Black Friday is just around the corner. This is an excellent opportunity to take a step back and plan your shopping wisely and, most important, responsibly. In this blog post, I’ll share tips and strategies to help you shop for items you genuinely want without exceeding your budget. I’ll give you my top brands to shop from, choosing quality and sustainability over quantity.
How to shop wisely?
The best way to shop wisely and avoid impulse shopping is to plan your shopping:
Organize your closet and make a Wishlist
We can often find ourselves buying things we never intended to because of a discount. To avoid this, go to your closet, declutter it, and find out what you’re missing. Create a wishlist of items you intended to buy anyway. Follow your list and avoid the temptation of buying things that are not on it. Save money and avoid the habit of overconsumption.
Find your items in advance
After you have created your Wishlist, go online, and find your items before the sale starts. Compare your favorite brands and find out what the best deal you can get is. Be specific with what you want. If you haven’t found an item that meets all your criteria, don’t buy it. From my experience, when you purchase an item that doesn’t meet all your requirements, you’ll keep looking for the right one. This may cause you to accumulate items that are almost what you’re looking for. As a result, you’ll probably not wear them as much as you’d like to.
Use the real advantage of discounts
The main goal of a discount is to save money. It is not an opportunity to buy more items, which eventually could cost even more. Use this advantage when you shop. While choosing your items, check what their actual price is. Is it cheaper to buy it on Black Friday, or is it a marketing manipulation? In recent years, my purchases are mainly from brands I usually can’t afford at their full price. This way, I know their discount is meaningful.
Set a budget
To help you stick to your list, set yourself a recommended budget. You can set an overall budget or a budget for every item separately. It will help you avoid the temptation of adding more items to your cart.
Where to shop?
If you want to make a sustainable purchase, you can do it in several ways. Most importantly, buy items that fit your style and lifestyle. This will enable you to get the most wear out of them. When searching for places to purchase from, it is best to look for quality pieces to buy second-hand or in small, local brands.
Here are some of my favorite brands I usually buy from on Black Friday sales:
Clothes & Accessories
Anine Bing
As I’ve already mentioned in previous blog posts, I love Anine Bing designs. My closet features several wardrobe staples from her brand. Her items are a mix of classic, minimalist chic with a touch of rock n’ roll. The quality is high, and the fabric composition is mostly natural fibers (cotton, silk, cashmere, etc.). Most of the year, I cannot afford to purchase her items. Even though she has a sale three times a year, the biggest one is on Black Friday. The discounts are up to 70% off, no code needed. Her sale started last Thursday and usually lasts until Cyber Monday. If you see something you like, don’t wait too long because items tend to run out quickly.
Here are some of my favorite items from her sale:
Everlane
If you’re looking for high-quality basics or wardrobe staples, Everlane is definitely the place to find it. The price of their items varies, and they use natural and recycled fabrics. I suggest reading the feedback on each item in order to decide on the right sizing. Everlane offers different discounts on some of their items on Black Friday. This year, they donate $1 to the Feeding America organization for each order placed on Black Friday to provide meals for people in need.
& Other Stories
& Other Stories is one of the only high street brands I shop from. Even though it is a big international brand, I’ve decided to mention it here. That’s because their items are of very good quality. They usually offer various classic and trendy pieces. Moreover, they are relatively more pricey than other high street brands. This is why Black Friday can be a good opportunity for you to shop for their more pricey items. & Other Stories is offering a 25% discount on their entire site this year, with no code needed. You can also find some of their pieces on Asos, which offers up to 70% off this Black Friday.
Jewelry
Missoma
Missoma is one of my favorite jewelry brands. They produce high-quality classic and stylish pieces in gold and silver. Their gold jewelry is usually made of 18ct Gold Vermeil on Sterling Silver, which means it is more durable and doesn’t tarnish easily over time. For their silver jewelry, they use Sterling Silver.
Missoma offers 25% off on their site on Black Friday. For each purchase, they also plant a tree together with a charity called TreeSisters. This year they are starting their sale on Monday, November 23rd, and going until Cyber Monday.
Boutique Minimaliste
Boutique Minimaliste is a Portuguese jewelry brand offering gold jewelry in a vintage style. They have teamed up with one of my favorite style icons Nicole Ballardini to design their jewelry. Their pieces are gold plated on metal, in my experience, are quite durable. Some of their jewelry is made from vintage sourced materials, and quantities can therefore be limited. Their items are relatively affordable, and this Black Friday, they offer 20% off on selected items.
I hope this post gave you tips and information on where to shop and how to do it wisely and responsibly. I believe that when we shop, it is important to do it intentionally so that we feel satisfied with our purchases. Doing so will also help you take responsibility for our environment as a more conscious consumer.
If you have more shopping tips feel free to add them in your comments 🙂
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