The Sale Fog

I don't know when it starts but at some point it hits us all, the word bargain seems to obscure the actual nature of the items we are looking at.  Today I nearly bought these very nice but totally inappropriate jeans, particularly considering I tried on a different colour of the same jeans earlier in the season and looked not completely different from a giant grape, so for Christmas I decided to be an elf?  
 
People go into the fog completely rational but somewhere, in there, they leave sanity behind, my clients love my "This one time at the sales..." stories because well it makes their horrible jumper they bought that time seem very acceptable and forgiveable.  People save all year and then spend it on the first day of the SALE?  I do hate to spoil the illusion but shops still make serious profits and rely on their reduced sales return policies to ensure the money stays in their pockets, whilst relying on your competitive nature to ensure that you buy more than you ever normally would.  It's the perfect storm.

So allow me to offer you an umbrella!  Sale shopping is and I think we can all agree on this, a nightmare on the first few days, so why not take a Zen approach.  Leave the first few days to the uninitiated, take the dog for a walk instead, if you don't have a  dog, read a book.  Next week there will be further markdowns and there will be clothes left in the shops, these 2 things combined mean that you win.  As every item you buy will have the added value of minimised stress levels and the sense of accomplishment gleaned from the fact that you saved even more money.  You'll also have the space to make better choices rather than being pushed and pulled by crazed individuals.  Your money will go further or it'll go back in your pocket until the right item comes along.  There is no such thing as a bargain you've never worn.