Cyber Monday is here and it’s one of the biggest online shopping days of the year! There have been so many great sales running recently but online shopping has it’s challenges. On one hand it is incredibly easy to shop online. You have a wider selection to choose from and you can shop from anywhere at any time! But on the other hand it can be hard to shop online because you aren’t able to try something on to make sure it fits. You also miss out on being able to feel the fabric and the quality before buying something.

Over the last year or so I have become an avid online shopper. I would say that 99% of my shopping is done online now. Since I wasn’t always so keen on shopping online, I have picked up a few tricks that have saved me from buyer’s remorse. I wanted to share a few things to keep in mind while you are doing your online shopping.

• Create a budget: It is so easy when you have a credit card stored online to just keep clicking “checkout”. It’s not until later when you look at your statement that you realize how much damage you really did. When you are physically in a store, standing in line at the cash register, and have to swipe (or insert) your card, you think about your purchase a little more. So before you sit down to shop the sales make sure you have looked at your finances and have determined a budget. Keep track of how much you have spent with a note on your phone.
• Slow down: This isn’t a race! Take your time to really think about your purchases. Ask yourself questions like “would I buy this if it wasn’t on sale?” and “how am I going to use this?” Sometimes we can get caught up in the rush of the sale and we make impulse buys that we end up regretting.
• Use Wishlists and Shopping Carts: I like to go through a site and add items I like to a wishlist or the shopping cart. Then once I’ve finished browsing I’ll go through and edit the items I’ve saved. There might be a couple of items that are similar that I can eliminate right away.
• Shop multiple retailers: Once I have filled up a few shopping carts on my favorite retailer sites I go through each cart to make sure I’m not buying similar items from different stores. For example I might have a pair of gray joggers from LOFT in one cart and a pair from Abercrombie in another. I wait to actually make a purchase until I have finished browsing multiple sites for this reason. I might find a pair of gray joggers that I like better or for a better price. This saves me from having to return duplicate items.
• Read reviews: I rely heavily on reviews! I want to know what people think about the product since I can’t see the quality. I also want to make sure I am ordering the right size based on what other people have found.

Keep in mind that this is a great time of year to invest in pieces like boots and coats. There are some amazing deals happening at some of my favorite retailers. I’ve included sale information below as well as a few of my favorites that are currently sitting in my shopping carts! Xo Bryn

Abercrombie & Fitch – 50% off entire store

Ann Taylor – 50% off everything + free shipping with code “BESTMONDAY”

Banana Republic – 50% off everything

J.Crew – 40% off, plus an extra 10% your purchase until noon on Monday with code “SHOPFAST”

J.Crew Factory – 60% off everything plus extra 50% off clearance use code “CYBER”

LOFT – 50% off everything with code “CLICK”

Nordstrom – Extra 20% off sale items

Urban Outfitters – $50 off purchases of $150 or more | $15 off purchases of $75 or more