As most females out there, I like being up to date when it comes to fashion; and as a blogger, I am constantly looking for the latest trends and fashions available. I am well aware however that this comes with a price tag, but did you know that you can reduce the price tag to a fraction and save BIG $$$ in major retailers?
I have several favorite stores that I shop at often. Express is certainly one of them, but as much as I love their cute little dresses and their Portofino Shirts, I cannot afford spending $80.00 for a short dress or $60.00 on a shirt as often as I would like to. So what do you do to stay fashionable and trendy without breaking your bank account?
As a general rule I am not in favor of opening a lot on credit cards (interest rates can be really high, especially from department and clothing stores), but if you know how to manage your accounts and ALWAYS make sure to pay the balance in full, having one of these cards can be a real advantage, and YES save you money.
A lot of the clothing stores have point loyalty programs and you basically earn points every time you shop at their store. These points can later be redeemed as a credit for your purchases.
Let’s take Express as an example.
The store offers their Express Next Rewards program which has two levels : basic and then the A- Lister which you achieve by spending a certain amount of money within a year… I am an Express card holder and have actually made the A- Lister level, so for every 2500 points I get I receive a $15.00 reward certificate (15 points for every dollar spent on your EXPRESS NEXT Credit Card).
If you are on their mailing list, then you know they periodically send out coupons, they also alert you to and quite often they have a 25 or 40 % off store wide
How you use your coupons and rewards can make a huge difference.
How can you buy seasonal clothing for a fraction of the price?
Coupons of course, but here is the thing. People tend to think that buying off the clearance section is where you save the most money. As a general rule this is true, but coupons do not work on clearance items and the styles/ colors on clearance are usually from the last season which is still ok…I have no problem with that, but you will be surprised to find out that the clearance section is not always the cheapest route.
When the store is having one of those 40% off deals ( just make sure the deal is not for the whole site or the coupon will not work), it is not clearance, and you still can use your coupon and if you have a reward available on your account…Jackpot!
I for example wanted a cute little black dress in their store, regular price: $79.90 after the 40% discount: $47.94, I used a coupon of $15.00 off any $30.00 purchase which brings my dress to: $40.94 including $8.00 shipping, but since I am an A-lister, the shipping is free and the price goes down to $32.94. This is when I use my $15.00 rewards and the price I pay for this dress is just: $17.94 add $1.26 for the taxes and the final price of my $79.00 dress, is $19.20 for a total savings of $61.96…Not too shabby!
Now you know …Shop smart for big discounts at online retailers!
Wow, it sounds like a good deal on clothes! I hadn’t even heard of Express, but I’ll check them out!
Do, they have really cute clothing:)