Last weekend, I took my wife and kids to the shopping mall to do a little back to school shopping. I know, the new school year had started already and most people had done their back to school shopping ages ago. Well, not me. I rarely follow the trend nor do I want to.
 

After saving a bundle on my unconventional shopping trip, I thought that I would share some of my clothes shopping tips with you. These clothes shopping tips had often helped me save more than 50% off the retail price easily. I rarely pay retail prices for my clothes and probably will never do so again in my life. So, let’s get started and see what the saving potentials are.

8) Subscribe To Your Favourite Clothing Chain’s Newsletter

Whether you’re a regular shopaholic or the occasional intentional shopper, there are benefits to subscribing to your favourite clothing chain’s newsletter. Some chains do offer a one time 10% or more discount off your purchase after you signup for their newsletter. This may not seem like much, but if you can stack this offer with other discounts, you’ll save a lot more. So, just keep this in mind for now.
 

The other benefit is the coupon codes in the newsletter. When clothing chains send you their newsletters, they not only contains sales promotions, but they often contain coupon codes that allow you to save up to 40% off on top of their discounts. Hence, you can easily combine the sales discounts and the coupon codes to buy your clothes really cheap.

7) Buy Before You Need Them

As I mentioned earlier, I am not a trendsetter nor do I want to follow any trends. However, this doesn’t mean that I will always buy out of season/fashion and ugly clothes when I shop. Nope. I only buy clothes that I like, they fit me, are made of high-quality materials and are selling at a great discount.
 

I don’t shop much, but when I do go shopping, I may end up buying nothing or quite a few things that I need in the future. Clothing is something that I often buy ahead of time before I need them. As a result, I can be really picky about what I buy and will only buy them if I get a great deal. I don’t have to buy them, but if I do, I am pretty much guaranteed to pay less than half price after all the discounts.

6) Shop After The Peak Shopping Seasons

When I choose to go shopping, I often chose to avoid the peak times like before Valentine’s Day, back to school or Christmas. I often go a couple of weeks after these peak shopping seasons. It’s a lot less stressful during these periods.
 

First of all, there will be less traffic at the mall so I don’t have to be in a rush to buy my clothes. Secondly, there are often more storewide discounts after the peak season as retailers are trying to clear out their current inventory and make room for the new season. Third, the deeply discounted clearance section will contain more items.

5) Be Patient And Wait For Discounts

During my shopping trip last week, there was a jacket at Old Navy that I really like. I tried it, it fit perfectly and the material felt great, however, it was not on sale. Even though I had a coupon code that allowed me to get up to 40% off that jacket, I was not satisfied. I decided to wait until it goes on sale.
 

Three days later, I received a newsletter from Old Navy with many items that are 50% off. That jacket was also in the half price list. To make things even better, I still have the coupon code that would provide me up to 40% off on top of the sale price. So that jacket was originally priced at $79.95, I was able to purchase it for $25, a total discount of 68% off retail price. It really pays to be patient.

4) Fill Out Store Surveys

For most retail stores, if you purchased something from them, most likely, they will include a site on the receipt where you can fill out their surveys. To encourage consumers to provide feedback on their services, they’ll either offer you a percentage or fixed dollar discount on your next purchase or even items. I discovered this trick with Subway, where I was able to get seven meals and six desserts for under $25.
 

So, the next time after you’ve made a purchase from your favourite retail store, don’t forget to check the offer on your receipt. You may be able to earn extra discounts off your next purchase by filling out the store survey.

3) Buy Multiples Of The Same Item

When there is a deep discount on the items that I like, I sometimes buy multiple of the same item. This can either be in different colours or a slight variation of the same item, or even multiples of the exact same item. (If you see wearing the same item on multiple days, chances are I may own multiple of that item and I do change my clothes daily.)

2) Use Ebates Before You Shop Online

One of my wife’s favourite ways to shop online is to go through Ebates. It’s pretty simple, all you have to do is sign up for an Ebates account. When you start your online shopping trip, you just sign in to your Ebates account then find your favourite online store on Ebates and click on that store’s link. You just continue shopping at your favourite online store as usual.
 

The beauty of this process is Ebates will provide you a cash rebate as a percentage of your purchase from your favourite stores, regardless of the discounts you’ve received from those stores. Sometimes, depending on the store and the promotion, you can receive as much as 10% cash back from Ebates on your purchases. Easy money.
 

For my American friends, here’s the Ebates.com signup referral link to get a free $10 signup bonus. For my Canadian friends, here’s the Ebates.ca signup referral link to get a free $5 signup bonus.

1) Use Cashback Credit Cards For Your Purchases

To maximize the savings on my purchases, I use my credit card every time if the retailer accepts credit card purchases. For me, I use my Rogers Bank World Elite MasterCard to make my purchases so that I get at least 1.75% in reward points on anything I buy. If you want to save even more money, check out my best credit cards combination post to maximize your cash back for your spending.

Bonus: Clothes Shopping Tips Example

With any post, I don’t think that it’s fair to just give any clothes shopping tips without providing an example of my savings. As mentioned earlier, I subscribed to Old Navy’s newsletter. Recently, they sent me a couple of $20 instant discount super cash coupons when I spend $50 in store or online, regardless of the discounts on the items.
 

 

If the items that I purchase totaled $50 before taxes, I will receive an instant $20 off my purchase. This is like getting an extra 40% off on top of the already discounted items. So I went shopping online with a $50 budget and ended up buying the jacket that I really liked and a pair of pants for my son (see the screenshot above).
 

Description	Amount
Items Original Cost + Tax	$116.25
Discount On Items	– $55.50
Super Cash	– $20.00
Payment After Discounts	$38.99
Ebates Rewards	– $0.78
Credit Card Rewards	– $0.68
True Cost Of Purchase	$37.53
Total Discounts	– $78.52
Discount Percentage	67.72%

Table #1: Online Shopping Saving Summary.
 

The original prices of the two items including taxes were $116.25. After receiving the item discounts, super cash coupon, Ebate cash, and credit card rewards, I only paid $37.53. That’s a total discount of 67.72% off the original price. I also got free shipping too. Awesome.
 

If you like this post, do it to Pinterest or follow me on Pinterest

My Two Cents

By following these clothes shopping tips, I was able to save more than 50% off retail prices on most of my shopping trips. I can save even more money if I shop online through Ebates and pay with my credit card. These clothes shopping tips are quite easy to follow and will guarantee to save you money every time. So be patient, shop smart and try to stack as many discounts as you can when you go shopping.
 

So, what clothes shopping tips to you used to reduce your shopping bills and increase your savings? Do you have any clothes shopping tips that you can share with this community?