Shopping Tips That Work for Me

These are the things I learned through the years when doing some serious shopping:

1. Leave husband behind. :D It's sweet, of course, if he wants to come along but it just might be good for his health if he stays in one place or stays at home. My husband, for one, is not keen on long walks. It's something about his knee.

Most of the time it's just me and my daughter who goes shopping. Husband is spared of the long wait while me and my daughter is spared from being asked every minute or so when are we ever going to buy anything. Fair enough for the parties involved.

2. Wear really, really comfortable shoes or flip-flops if you are going to fit so many shoes and if you know you will spend the entire day or even half of the day going around the mall. I ask my daughter to wear flats or slip-on rather than sneakers. Untying and tying back the shoelace consumes time when fitting different shoes.

3. Wear clothing which you can slid on and off easily when shopping for clothes especially dresses. You know you are going to try so many of them several times so it will help if you can change fast.

4. Stick to budget. Oh, this is hard. But worth it. You'll be proud of yourself everytime you accomplish this.

5. Eat before leaving. You save some money since there will only be either a snack or a dinner you need to spend for. Also, to have all the energy you need as you go through the whole shopping process.

6. Regularly check the number of bags you are carrying to ensure you have all of your shopping sprees intact and not leaving them somewhere (in a restaurant for example).

7. Better yet, slip smaller bags into bigger shopping bags so you don't actually have to carry so much bags.

8. Have a list of the things you will buy and do a logistics planning of where to go first, second and so on. This saves a lot of time and energy.

A week and a a half ago, my daughter and I scouted for a dress she will use for their dance in school. The theme for this year's field demonstration is ballroom dancing. She has a lot of dresses but none of them can be classified for ballroom. Her gowns are too long and layered since they were used on several wedding occasions being part of the entourage. Another thing, most of them will not fit anymore.

We have no choice but to look for a new dress. We did find at least two good designs but they were beyond my budget. Since she needs the dress, I am ready to buy any of the two only if there is no other choice. But it is in my nature to sweep the entire mall before I settle for what I may call a good buy. And now that there are two malls near my place, only for this particular search, I need to check if there is a better buy in the other mall. That was how I planned it. I need to buy a new set of wardrobe for me too anyway plus a pair shoes for me and my daughter. We planned to go back the following weekend after her mastery examinations are all done. It's shopping time.

My daughter and I spent the whole afternoon last Saturday to finally buy her dress, my wardrobe and our shoes. We left no stones unturned in our search for our best buys. I am happy to note we were able to get ourselves pretty things that we actually need after a couple of hours. And they are all within my budget. Nice!