092. How To Make Your Shopping Budget Work For You This Year

Be Happier With How Much You Spend and What You Spend It On

[To my LA-based readers, who make up the largest demographic of this newsletter, you’ve been on my mind every waking minute. If there is anything I can do to support your local community, please reach out to me directly].

New Year’s resolutions are out. At least, that’s what the internet is telling me. Nevertheless, I have set two intentions for my shopping this year. The first one is to reduce the quantity of fast fashion items I buy from a few to zero. Last year, they made up 30% of my purchases (6 out of 19 items) or 8% in value (£455 out of £5,676). I resorted to it out of convenience or, in one or two cases, impulse, so I expect it will be an easy goal to reach. I would rather my money show up on the balance sheet of an independent brand. The second intention is to make this a year of discovery. I want to try on more brands in-store to make better decisions when shopping online in the years to come. I’d like to become my own personal shopper and know precisely where to go when I feel the need or desire to add to my wardrobe. I will, of course, be documenting the whole process for you.

For this first letter of 2025, I wanted to write something that will help you shop on your own terms over the next twelve months. This newsletter will be useful if you’ve set goals about how much you want to spend or how you want to spend it. It will also be helpful if you’re not entirely pleased with your relationship with shopping or the additions you made to your wardrobe last year. I propose a three-part plan to optimize your budget and feel more in control of your spending in a hyper-marketed ecosystem.

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1. Make The Retail Calendar Work For You

In 2025, shopping is going to get more expensive. Albeit, not as drastically as it did in 2024. Fashion leaders have reported that they will resort to less cost-cutting (some good news for quality standards), but over half of them still expect to raise retail prices.

I have always been an aggressive sale shopper, strategically waiting out end-of-season markdowns to get more value for my money and wear brands I couldn’t otherwise afford. If you shop on sale in 2025, you’ll be part of the majority as 62% of US and European shoppers expect to wait for a product to go on discount to buy it. Shoppers above thirty are 25% more likely to wait since we don’t care about trends as much. Done right, it can pay off and allow more wiggle room within your yearly budget.

But shopping on sale isn’t always the best long-term strategy. You can also manage your budget with success by approaching shopping more moderately than I have in the past. Buying full price means getting first pick of size and style and making the most of what you buy, as you can purchase it on time for when you actually need to wear it. As cost-per-wear compounds over the years, sometimes the value of that initial 30% discount matters less.

Most shoppers know that the retail calendar follows a predictable cycle. Winter collections go on sale in January/February, and Summer stuff in July/August, with Black Friday and Labor Day frenzy hitting in between. Since the pandemic, the discount cycle has accelerated. Retailers had to clear unprecedented levels of unsold inventory, customer behaviour adjusted, and the pattern has stuck. While it appears to be to our benefit, that’s doubtful; prices are inflated to account for this behaviour. A New York retailer reported that some brands are now asking for a 4.0 markup, expecting most of the clothes to sell at a 40% discount. Either way, retailers will use any excuse to go on sale, from borrowing holidays and shopping events from every culture to running Private/Reward/Exclusive/Silent sale previews that anyone can access, providing they have registered with an email address. Seasonal items will go on sale within 4 to 8 weeks of hitting the stores/sites, which is an insanely short time to wait out a purchase.

I recommend a hybrid approach (part strategic discount, part full-price shopping). In the next section, I will demonstrate how to plan around four example big-ticket items - a warm winter coat, a work bag, two or three new sweaters to boost your knitwear drawer, and a new bikini - including saving timelines, the best time to shop, etc. But first, to optimise your budget, you must know the retail calendar inside out.

January

What’s New

• Lunar New Year limited-edition collections drop in early January. This year, many brands, from Aritzia to Tory Burch, released one for the Year of the Snake. These will usually get discounted in early February.

• The second and third weeks of January are when the first of the spring/summer collections for apparel and accessories hit stores and sites.

What’s On Sale

• First half of January: post-holiday discounts reach up to 70%.

• Second half of January: winter collections final markdowns, up to 75-80%, with retailers regularly adding a limited-time extra 15% off at checkout.

• If you have a warm-weather vacation planned between January and when new swimwear drops in March, the resort collections launched late the previous year hit deeper discounts.

February

What’s New

• Early February: main spring/summer collections delivery. By the end of this month, most retailers will have completed their spring/summer deliveries, so if you want to shop before markdowns hit and get your first pick of style and sizes, the end of February is a good time.

• If you’re an avid lingerie shopper, Valentine's Day capsule collections and gift edits launch early in the month.

What’s On Sale

• First half of February: last call for winter clearance and final reductions.

• When you think it’s over. Last year, the SSENSE Winter sale ended on February 15th, and on February 27th, they launched a ‘Silent Sale’.

March

What’s New

• Mid-March sees the arrival of beach and swim collections, as well as wedding guest dresses and occasionwear for the upcoming season.

What’s On Sale

• In the new era of year-round sales, early March often sees ‘Spring Preview’ limited-time events with modest 20-30% discounts to drive early-season shopping. You get the gist; you’re always a few weeks away from the next discount event.

• Retailers clear out any remaining winter stock with deep discounts, but selection is very limited by this point. I never recommend shopping from ‘whatever’s available’; an item must have been lusted over and chosen to hold a special place in your wardrobe for years to come.

April

What’s On Sale

• Retailers and brands will analyse season-to-date sales and bring markdowns to those items that haven’t moved.

May

What’s New

• Fast-fashion and lower-end brands release high-summer collections in full force, with beachwear, festival fashion, and vacation essentials taking centre stage. Designer collaborations often drop this month to capture summer shopping excitement.

What’s On Sale

• Memorial Day sales mark the first official markdown event of the season, with 30% to 50% off spring styles.

June

What’s New

• Early June brings Pride collections from various brands.

What’s On Sale

• Mid-season sales begin, typically starting at 30-40% off.

July

What’s New

• The first glimpses of fall collections, which include light knitwear and outerwear, appear in stores and online. Designer denim brands typically release their new-season styles now.

What’s On Sale

• Widespread spring/summer sales with initial discounts of 40-50%. Mid-July sees second markdowns pushing 60-70% off.

August

What’s New

• Fall collections, including accessories and boots, are arriving in full force. Back-to-school collections are launching across contemporary and accessible brands.

What’s On Sale

• Final summer clearance reaches 70-80% off, overlapping with new season arrivals. This is the time to exercise caution - those discounts are tempting you to spend when you could be saving for those winter staples that will soon be much needed.

September

What’s New

• If you’re prepared and have budgeted for a full-price purchase, it's a great time to watch for those warm winter coat drops before the best stuff sells out.

What’s On Sale

• Labor Day sales offer the last chances for summer pieces. Instead, look for those 15 - 25% off promotions on ‘new season’ items. It is a great time to scoop those fall pieces with a slight discount before everyone else has yet had a chance to switch gears.

October

What’s New

• This is the month when bikinis are displayed next to down jackets in the New Arrivals section. Holiday and resort collections begin to arrive, while cold-weather accessories and winter coats reach their peak availability.

What’s On Sale

• Retailers run flash sales on the least popular autumn/winter lines ahead of the crazy sale season, which begins next month.

November

What’s New

• Brands begin releasing holiday gift guides and limited-edition gift sets.

What’s On Sale

• Singles Day discounts around November 11th kick off the markdown mania that will perdure until mid-February.

• Major retailers like Net-A-Porter, My Theresa, etc. will launch a ‘Private’ sale around November 14th as a pretext to get shoppers to submit their emails and get their first pick of what will be discounted on Black Friday. You won’t get insane 80% off deals, but this is when the best stuff and the most popular sizes will sell out. If you’re risk averse, this is a good time to shop. This is typically when I buy the things I have been watching, and then I unsubscribe, log off, and ignore the noise for the following few months to avoid being led astray. The stuff that’s left around the time of the second or third markdowns is left behind for a reason.

December

What’s New

• Throughout the month, some brands release limited-edition holiday collections (partywear).

What’s On Sale

• Before 2020, retailers would temporarily return to full-price between Black Friday and the start of the winter sale. Now discounts rage on throughout December. Net-A-Porter’s Black Friday sale offering 30% off ended on November 24th, and the Winter sales kicked off on November 25th with 50% off.

• In Europe, retailers usually throw in an additional markdown on Boxing Day.

• The exception to my rule: I keep one eye open for those New Lines Added To Sale emails.

Smart Play: Avoid Sample Sales

I’m a sample sale hater. They’re a pressure cooker for impulse buys and poor decisions. A valuable share of your budget will likely be wasted on lacklustre pieces. I guarantee you will only feel smug about those purchases for a day or two. The only way to come out unscathed is if you know they will have the exact item you want in your size and go with blinkers on.

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2. Plan Around The Big Ticket Items

Assuming you will be shopping a mix of full-price and sale items to optimise your budget, in this section, I make suggestions on how to use the calendar to plan around four examples of big-ticket items - a warm winter coat, a work bag, two or three new sweaters to boost your knitwear drawer, and a new bikini.

Recommending that you have every purchase you plan to make this year mapped out in advance would be unrealistic and extraordinarily boring. However, thinking about your big-ticket items, which include the most expensive pieces and the wardrobe cornerstone ones, and scribbling them down could really pay off. These items are easy to identify as the ones that have prompted serious envy for several years or that your wardrobe desperately lacks and you find yourself needing repeatedly.

Thoughtful planning around these key investments lets you optimize quality across every price point. Timing them throughout the year will make you more likely to avoid impulse purchases that drain your funds, help you set the money aside before spending it, and ensure you have the pieces ready to wear when you want to wear them and not halfway through the season. You’re much less likely to settle for lower quality when you plan ahead.

The most common error I made when setting a budget was to deplete it on multiple items I felt lukewarm about. These pieces rarely contribute to one’s wardrobe in the long term. You should never panic-buy a cornerstone piece; the right winter coat bought this year is an item you won’t need to buy next year. The retail calendar, as outlined above, is treacherous: a winter coat isn’t something you buy in October; it’s something you start wearing in October. Yet, new ones typically hit the stores at the same time as the summer sales that typically deplete our funds.

Here is how I suggest thinking about your spending. I assume you’ll buy the coat and bikini full-price to get your first choice of size and style, invest in the new work bag early in the year to get the most wear out of it, and shop for knitwear on sale. You can, of course, adjust this based on your needs and preferences.

January to March 2025

• January: Ignore aggressive marketing emails around third and final markdowns - the bottom-of-the-barrel sale - instead, research the work bag you want to purchase.

• February: Purchase your work bag from permanent collections or the spring/summer collections that have just dropped. Switch the focus of your savings to your next big-ticket purchase (the bikini).

• March: Research swimwear brands.

April to June 2025

• April: Purchase your bikini early in the season to get your first choice before it sells out. Refocus your savings on the next big-ticket purchase (the warm winter coat).

• May - June: Research winter coats as early pre-fall collections arrive.

July to September 2025

• July: Don't let summer sales drain your coat budget

• August: Buy your winter coat. Switch the focus of your savings fund to knitwear.

• September: Start browsing knitwear. Purchase the first piece by taking advantage of the Labor Day sale on new-season items.

October to December 2025

• October: Buy your chosen sweaters during the early stages of the sale.

• November - December: Shop what you need for your loved ones ahead of the holidays, then log off. Save for your first big, satisfying purchase of 2026.

Savings Timeline

• Ideally, the work bag would be bought at the start of the year so that you can reduce the cost-per-wear to a very satisfying amount by the end of it. In a perfect world, you would have accumulated three to four months of savings from Fall 2024 and be ready to purchase in January.

• You can set aside money for three months, starting in January, to purchase the bikini in April.

• A warm winter coat is a big-ticket item in every way. You could save a significant amount for five to six months by beginning to save in March for an August purchase.

• Knitwear selection is always extensive, so you’re more likely to score your first choice even if you wait out the first markdowns. Save for three or four months starting in July and shop during the first autumn markdowns in October.

Savings Principles

• I keep a loose spending plan, but if you prefer to be more rigorous, you can set up a separate shopping fund specifically for these purchases. When you start saving for a new item, rename the fund; it's no longer your ‘winter coat fund’ but your ‘winter 2025/2026 knitwear fund’.

• If you can't save enough for the full-price items by their optimal purchase time, extend your savings timeline and buy later in the season (accepting some compromise on selection). However, try not to substitute a sale item that doesn't fully meet your needs, as you’d be putting additional pressure on the following year’s budget.

Smart Play: Don’t Forget Your 15% Off

Almost every retailer and brand will give you 10% or 15% off in exchange for a new email address. When shopping online, subscribe to the retailer’s newsletter; they will email you a code to enter at checkout. If you have already shopped from this site, log off and use your work email or create a new email address. Most retailers also give this discount to returning customers on their first app order. I didn’t realise until recently that brands will also honour these welcome discounts in-store. I recently saved $225 on a Frame suede jacket by asking the store associate if they would honour the discount on their website for new customers. I was already in their system and gave them another email address. Either way, it never hurts to ask. While this may not be worth the hassle when making smaller purchases, it can make a significant difference when it comes to those big-ticket items.

I assume that giving away small courtesy discounts is also standard practice if you’re a regular, high-spending customer at your local boutiques and have developed good relationships with the people who work there.

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3. Curate Your Media Diet To Suit Your Habits

A divide has emerged on Substack Notes in recent months. Letters with titles like Am I The Only One Out There Who Can’t Afford Khaite Jeans? have led people to debate the integrity of creators who buy, get gifted, and link expensive products and brands. I never condone women slagging off women; that includes publicly criticising what is essentially just modern-day marketing.

However, the discussion around exposure to aspirational content is valid and entirely relevant to today’s topic. Whether you’re saving for an important life purchase or practising discipline, you’re making your life harder than it needs to be by staying subscribed to content that distracts you from your goals. Don’t put unnecessary pressure on yourself. I recall a conversation with a friend; she was saying how much she enjoys consuming content by creators a few decades older than her because the prospects of being able to afford what they can afford in a future season of life excites her. If, on the contrary, unattainable content makes you feel hard done by, unfollow and wish them well.

Smart Play: It’s Not Just About Spending Power

It’s not just about aligning yourself with people within your tax bracket. More importantly, I recommend subscribing to people who shop the way you want to shop this year. For example, if you handpick creators who prioritise shopping vintage, like

Erika Veurink

, shop secondhand exclusively, like

Viv Chen

, and post looks styled from a mix of secondhand finds, like Heather Hurst, your online experience will soon feel a lot more egosyntonic and the tips and links you land on will be a lot more useful.

Left, Heather, whose closet is a treasure trove of unique secondhand pieces. Right, Erika, whose eye for unearthing vintage gems is incomparable.

Another example of aligning your feed to your intentions is to prioritise styling content over shopping content (one of my top goals for the newsletter you’re currently reading this year, ha!). Some creators will push you to get creative with the clothes you already own.

Anna Newton

is currently publishing a Shop Your Wardrobe series - an entire month’s worth of content aimed at helping you style your closet in new ways.

Finally, the fashion ecosystem and the content we consume drive us to gamify shopping. If I look at my own habits, a lot of my relationship with shopping is lusting over and coveting pieces I will never buy. Last year, I purchased nineteen items out of the hundreds, if not thousands, that featured on my Notes app wishlist at some point. I remember reading an interview with Erika where she said she loves the thrill that vintage shopping procures her, the not knowing whether something she ordered will fit or if it will end up in one of her friends’ closet. Lean into this gamification. We’re very seldom compelled to shop, and when we are, it’s often for the wrong reasons (for me, it’s always been and still is to impress a man). For the most part, we don’t have to shop; we get to or want to shop. Make lists. Romanticise the search for that perfect item. Practice patience.