Summer officially transitions into fall this week, and in many parts of the country, the transition is already in the air. The nights and mornings are cooler, and even the daytime highs are starting to drift downward.
Soon, many of us will start dressing in fall and winter clothes. Long-sleeved shirts will start appearing if they haven’t already, and shorts will be fully replaced by long pants and other warmer garments.
[Read: 10 Ways to Save on Your Wardrobe.]
For many, this simply means pulling out winter clothes that may have been in storage for the last few months. For some, however, it may be time to replace or even to initiate a cold-weather wardrobe.
Stores recognize this, of course. Many clothing stores are now putting out lots of clothing appropriate for colder weather and charging full price for it.
During this season of high prices on cold-weather clothing when it is most in demand, how does one find bargains? Here are four key strategies.
Do a full clothing inventory before you start. Pull all of your clothing out of storage and figure out what you have before you start buying more clothing. Go through all of the cold-weather clothing you already have and figure out what you actually need. This is particularly true for children, because they may actually have a lot of garments from the end of the previous winter that still work this winter.
Never shop before you have a firm understanding of what your needs are and what you’re shopping for. You may even want to consider making a list during this process so that you know what’s needed while you’re shopping.
Do your “first pass” shopping online. While shopping online for clothes can sometimes be tricky, as you’re never quite sure whether an online garment will fit correctly, what you can do with online clothes retailers is assess them for styles and prices. Spend the time to look online for prices at every clothing retailer in the area. Take note of what they have available and what their prices are like.
You may find that the actual prices at various retailers don’t match your expectations. A retailer you thought of as being “expensive” may have more reasonable prices than other retailers, for example, or a retailer you may have thought of as a “bargain” may actually have inflated prices. Trust the dollars and cents, not your impressions of the retailers, and use real numbers as the basis for your clothes shopping.
[See: 10 Money-Saving Websites to Check Before Shopping.]
Make a pass through a secondhand store (or two). People often overlook shopping at secondhand stores for clothes, but the reality is that many secondhand stores, particularly ones near affluent neighborhoods, often have pretty high-quality selections of clothing. Since many people are re-evaluating their cold weather wardrobes now, there’s often an early fall bump in the number of cold-weather items available at secondhand stores, which means opportunity.
Before you head out to the stores, make a few stops at secondhand and consignment clothing stores in your area. There’s no guarantee you’ll find exactly what you want, but if you can find an item or two that’s gently used and well-made for a few dollars, then you’ve just saved yourself a lot on clothing. Start by focusing on secondhand and consignment stores that are conveniently located with respect to expensive residential neighborhoods, as such neighborhoods often donate or consign very high-quality, barely-worn clothing as they frequently update their wardrobes. The high-spending habits of others can save you a ton of money.
Focus on holiday weekends, particularly Columbus Day weekend. Many retailers have sales on holiday weekends throughout the fall because they know that customers will be out in significant numbers to shop that weekend, and they want to attract them with sales. Columbus Day tends to be a very popular holiday for cold-weather clothes sales, so plan to do some of your cold-weather clothes shopping during that early October weekend.
It’s often a good idea to have a plan for shopping on those days. In the days leading up to Columbus Day, do your homework and figure out where the best sales will be at stores in your area, and target those stores early in the weekend so that you can find the garments in the sizes and styles you’re looking for.
[See: 12 Habits of Phenomenally Frugal Families.]
That being said, clothes shopping on Columbus Day should be one of the later steps in your process once you’ve figured out what you actually need, what retailers make sense financially and what secondhand garments fit your needs.
If you follow these strategies, you’ll save a lot of money in the process of refreshing your cold-weather wardrobe. By simply doing a little homework and taking advantage of that homework, you can cut a lot out of your clothing spending while still enjoying nice fall and winter clothing for you and your family.
More from U.S. News
Smart Shopping Hacks for Busy People
10 Offbeat Ways to Earn Extra Money
25 Ways to Fix Your Finances Fast
Where to Find Affordable Cold-Weather Clothes This Fall originally appeared on usnews.com
