Shop till you drop, but shop smartly!
If you love retail therapy, hop into the best malls to experience fun, freeing, and the most happening activities. But, it can also feel overwhelming and stressful, especially during holiday time. The crowds and the chaos of shopping malls can disrupt your retail therapy; leading to retail manipulation and making you spend more than your budget.
But, don’t worry; you’ve landed at the right article. Here are some incredible shopping hacks you can try before heading to shopping malls in Illinois and the USA to make your visit easier and your budget lighter.
Map your visit
Most American shopping malls are huge and can feel like a maze if you are visiting for the first time. No GPS can help you navigate through them, so be prepared to use a shopping map. Some malls offer printable maps on their websites to make the navigating experience better for shoppers. Alternately, you can also visit a mall’s main desk to ask for a printable map.
Therefore, mapping out a route of the stores before heading out saves time and effort and makes you spend less. This is because the less time you spend at the mall, the better your budget would be. Also, your shopping experience will not give you a headache while going home.
Prioritise discounts and sales
This is a no-brainer that shopping using discounts, coupons and offers must be your top priority when hitting the malls. So, save your favourite products that might go on sales, or keep an eye on brands and shops that have fixed days for offering sales, and plan your mall visit accordingly.
Moreover, to save more on clothes shopping it’s better to prioritise the clearance sales over other sales, as chances are you might find the best deals at almost half the price.
Prefer bringing cash
To shop strictly according to your budget, it’s highly recommended to leave your plastic money at home and bring only cash that you plan on spending. This is called smart shopping, as you would be able only to buy things that you need, without being tempted to overspend. You can also apply the 50 30 20 rule to your overall spending to help you stay disciplined and stick to your predetermined budget.
Don’t carry shopping bags
It may feel quite frustrating to carry clothes in one hand and look through racks with your other hand, but it is the most feasible way to avoid overspending at a mall.
Surveys have shown that carrying a shopping bag or basket can tempt you to buy more, as shoppers likely feel ashamed when looking at other shoppers with full carts.
Therefore, to keep impulse buying at bay, stick to small baskets or avoid them completely to buy the things you really want.
Don’t get distracted while waiting in line
Nowadays, most of the malls have checkout lines displaying lines of sale jewelry, makeup tools, cheap socks, and other tiny items that lure you into buying them at the last minute. So, to avoid any impulse buying, try to ignore all such enticing things by getting indulged in your phones, probably scrolling your social media feed.
Conclusion
So, try out these shopping mall hacks this holiday season and see for yourself the wonders these hacks do!