Aassalamualaikum all,
I hope that you are doing great and feel optimistic with how the new year is going so far! The end / beginning of the year produces a fair amount of chaos in our lives which can be intense, but it also bears a spark of joy and hope for fresh beginnings, which I personally really like about this time of the year.
A Good Bargain
Today I wanted to talk a little bit about sales. Who doesn’t love a good bargain? Though some retailers are recently moving away from this concept in the name of sustainability, prevalence of sales in retail during this period still remains a common trend; starting from Black Friday, through pre-Christmas and Boxing Day sales to end of season sales at the beginning of the year.
Considering the general disarray caused by festivities (whether we celebrate them or not) and the abundance of offers, making the wrong shopping choice is not only easy to do, but even seems to be an unavoidable result of the above.
But overbuying is harmful not only for our finances but also for our planet. If you don’t need or like something it will soon end up in the landfill, with tons of other unnecessary items, that often cannot be recycled. Let’s remember that fashion is one of the most polluting industries in the world!
A Simple Plan
For this reason I think the most important thing when it comes to sales is to do a plan and stick to it.
For example, when it comes to modest clothing, I have got my favourite abaya retailers (Anaqa Inspired is one of them) and I regularly visit their websites in search of new stock. If I really love the item or I need it for a specific occasion, I buy it right away. For rest of the items, they end up on my wish list in waiting for reduced prices. The other rules I follow are:
1. Would I buy it if it was a full price item?
2. If I am not sure if I like something, that usually means that I should NOT keep it.
3. I don’t buy items for the summer during winter and vice versa.
This not only guarantees reduction of overbuying and its consequences, but also turns building of our wardrobe into more of a personal project rather than a mindless process of acquiring clothing.
And secondly - it’s a way to benefit from sales, instead of the sale benefitting from you.
How about you? How do you take advantage of sales? What pieces will end up in your wardrobe this season?
Till the next time,
Leila Lewinsky
