The speed with which new clothing goes from full price in a store window to deep sale on a rack in the back can make you feel like a fool if you pay full freight. Clothing designed to be worn in the fall/winter often gets discounted by Thanksgiving and prices are cut deeply after Christmas, when there’s still plenty of cold weather left for most of the United States and Europe. Retailers complain that customers are conditioned to expect discounts—OK, it’s a reinforcing cycle of consumer and store behavior. But they’re still filling up your inbox with discount codes and late night flash sale emails.
So when a good sale hits, we still rush to buy stuff. Sometimes we get intoxicated by deep discounts, overdo it a tad, and end up with painful sale hangovers: we wake up in bed with items we won’t wear and barely remember buying. Next time you’re frantically browsing a sale (maybe one we link to!), with 50 item tabs open, consider the above flowchart to make sure your decisions are wise. Or don’t; I met some of my favorite clothes on a sale rack.
–Pete