2016 Apr 7
by Anuki Premachandra
It’s that time of the year again. It’s the time when your wallets get emptier and your shopping lists get longer. As a kid, I waited impatiently till my mom told us that the ‘nakath’ time to exchange the gifts were finally year. My sister and I would literally lounge over the bags of gifts, peeking into them about a hundred times, counting minutes till we finally got our presents. Well now, life isn’t as easy. Shopping is a lot of fun, but having to be at the opposite end of receiving gifts i.e. having to get other people gifts is absolutely exhausting.
We Sri Lankans can honestly consider ourselves very lucky to have our favourite stores go on an all-out sale two times a year! Avurudu and Christmas are the two moths all shopaholics wait impatiently for, I mean what’s better than buying your favourite brands at half the price?
We are all waiting for the last weekend before Avurudu to get our shopping done. It’s the last weekend with the sales and the discounts. Before you go, here are 3 tips you’d want to read so that you wouldn’t come home and regret over something you bought/didn’t buy or how you couldn’t visits some stores you’ve been wanting to check out. Shopping can be tiresome (especially for the guys) cause we all that when a women says “almost done” when you ask her if she’s gotten everything she wants, she actually means she wants to spend another hour or so contemplating if the items in her basket are good enough or trying out ‘other options’ available just to giver herself the satisfaction of no regrets. Well, here are some tips to make this weekend a lot easier.
- Have a set budget
This is the first thing I would every month, set a limit off my salary for shopping. Now when it comes to April or December, I would literally set an amount that I think would be reasonable enough to allocate for shopping –not too much, not too little. The next thing you have to do, is to STICK TO YOUR BUDGET. Don’t overspend, there’s a reason why you allocated that particular amount in the first place, it’s probably because if you did allocate more, you might get financially stuck that month, so, it’s best to make a budget and stick to it.
- Hit up the stores with discounts
All your favourite stores are offering incredible discounts this weekend. Your banks are giving you as much as 25-30% off for credit cards and about 10% less than the former rate for your debit card, it’s advisable that you transfer your money as per your budget from your debit card to credit and control your shopping to spend that amount only. If you don’t already know which stores your card is offering you discounts, we’ve made that job so much easier for you too. Check out our article on Avurudu Discounts for 2016 here!
Once you know where to shop, you can narrow your list down and decide where you might want to go to buy what. Walking into a shop with a sense of aim (you know, knowing exactly what you want to find) will help you collect less clutter that you won’t be really needing at the end of the day.
- Bargain with yourself
Bargaining with your vendor only happens if you decide to do your Avurudu shopping at Pettah, but since most of you won’t, this tip can come in handy. Ask yourself if you really need that item of clothing you have in your hand. Yes, the material feels right, the colour looks gorgeous, and it looks super good on you, but what good is a sweater for the Lankan weather? You need to not only know what exactly you want to get, but you also need to think twice before you getting it. Ask yourself the following questions;
- Is it worth the price?
- How often will you wear it?
- Does the item look and seem long lasting? (Nobody wants to buy a cute top you know will fade off after a couple of washes)
- Does it complement your body? (Never buy clothes telling yourself you’ll lose weight to look better in it, face it, it’s an absolute waste of money)
- Do you really need it?
These three simple steps are bound to make your shopping experience much better.
- Set a budget
- Find out where the sales are
- Think twice before deciding to get it
Do hit us up and let us know in the comments section below if these three steps helped you manage your finances better and made you feel good at the end of the weekend knowing that you’ve gotten exactly what you’ve wanted and haven’t wasted your money on outfits you know you’ll end just wearing once or twice, or household clutter you know you don’t need. Husbands/boyfriends, you can thank us later.
