January Sales Secrets

How freaking quickly has the new year gone by? Since Christmas, I’ve celebrated NYE with a bunch of strangers in East London, gone ice-skating at Hampton Court, spent four amazing days in Venice, got my iPhone 5 stolen in Notting Hill, had a few drunk nights, kidnapped a pedestrian road sign, worn a super-ugly mask all around Soho (will blog this soon), hosted and said goodbye to a close friend from Melbourne, and finally, played for three days in the snow. I say it’s been a GREAT year so far!In the midst of all this activity, I haven’t… shopped.. for a whole month. Ok ALMOST a whole month. I’ve been so busy having fun with my friends, booking holidays, doing silly things etc and I kinda forgot about my favourite most frivolous, materialistic hobby. So I  must say a big THANK YOU to Vouchercodes for reminding me by invitation to take part in their January Sales Secrets challenge, which comes with a budget of £80 to splurge on the sales currently happening online. My job is to scour the web to take advantage of the January sales, and share some tips with you. Hehe.After spending an hour trawling through my favourite UK online shopping sites – these include GiGiVintage, Yayer, Rokit Vintage, Batoko, Topshop (OF COURSE), and other high street names – I decided that the best discounts for things that suited my style came from none other than.. River Island! I don’t normally shop there but I remember always finding their sales of fantastic value-for-money. I also bought a couple of things from ASOS as I had been holding on to a 30% off code that I earned using YourVine way back in November.

I figured that sticking to one or two websites would be ideal so as to not spend money paying for shipping multiple times. In the event, I only spent £3.95 for shipping at River Island as I’m an ASOS Premier member.

I haven’t received my items yet but here’s what I got (sorry for the rubbish collage – it IS 2.30am now):

I mean, it’s £7.50..(and it’s kind of awesome too)

4. River Island Ecru Hunting Print Rucksack – Was £32, Now £8
I’ve been wanting to get a rucksack for AGES and now I’ve found one for freaking eight quid.. super awesome. I found this in the men’s section of the store. During the sales I always check out the men’s or even children’s sections.. you never know what goodies you might find there! It may be also because I like wearing men’s jumpers/hoodies/beanies and I fit into girls’ jackets and coats..

5. River Island Bright Pink Lace Fingerless Gloves – Was £6, Now £1
This might as well be the pound shop, right? Haha. Got this for two reasons – the first being that I enjoy collecting things that I can potentially use for fancy dress, and the second being that I thought I might wear it when I participate in The Color Run soon.

6. River Island Lime Lace T-Shirt – Was £16, Now £5
It’s bright and it’s neon.. need I say more?

7. River Island Neon Spike Rings – Was £5, Now £0.50
Uhm.. it’s practically free!! I’m sure they’ll look rad with my pink fingerless gloves. If it fails, I’ll just utilise them as toothpicks.

8. River Island Palm Print Denim Hotpants – Was £25, Now £10
It’s never too early to start prepping for summer. The summer sunshine is IN me and it’s always on the lookout for summery attire. Such a cool print and for only £10! I’m happy.

After my 30% off ASOS discount, I spent a total of £80.90 for all eight items above.

Shopping the sales really isn’t that complicated and shouldn’t be so much of a mission. Remember – TIME is money too! Time is valuable. I wouldn’t spend HOURS on the internet trying to find the absolute BEST deal. In the end you might find some superb dress for 1p or something, but you’ll have blown away 4 hours of your life sitting in front of a screen.

With that in mind, here are my essential, very concise tips for the January sales, because you really shouldn’t be reading so many words ABOUT shopping before you even begin..:

• Pretty much ALL stores will be holding sales in January. Simply visit your favourite sites first and see if there’s anything you love from the sales section.
• Discounted items mean that sizes are often limited, so when there’s a large selection of items and where possible, make sure you filter the items by sizes available so you can save even MORE time.
• Seen something you liked previously but couldn’t afford it? Check again! Might be on sale NOW.
• Many shops actively use social media these days, so check their Twitter or Facebook pages to see if you can spot any discount/promo/free shipping codes floating around. Try Google too, or of course.. Vouchercodes.
• My best tip: NUS student codes are easily found via google.
• Can’t find anything you love enough to buy? Don’t force it! Just because it’s sale season doesn’t mean you HAVE to buy something.

Lastly, don’t get tempted by all the discounts and end up buying junk that you’ll never use. On the flipside, I mostly see the sales as encouragement and opportunity for me to experiment with wearing EVEN more adventurous/crazy things.

Enjoy shopping! But more importantly, enjoy LIFE 😉

Thank you again Vouchercodes, I had fun shopping.