Shopping Savvy

Hey Dolls! I am still on vacay and soaking up the sun on my last day here at the beach so the sweet and shopping savvy, Kelly from Shop At Home is here today to tell y'all about the awesome-ness of Shop At Home!

--Kelly O'Connell Heneberry, the Content Ambassador at ShopAtHome.com, now lives in Denver, Colorado after stopovers in Berkeley, Los Angeles, and New York. While she has discovered cute clothes at shops across the country, her closet currently contains nothing to wear. Luckily, she has most likely found three perfect, new dresses at various online retailers, which are now in her shopping cart.

OK, no lie—right now I have seven things in my ASOS online shopping cart, and yes, I am still browsing. Ironically, I am at work, and because I work at an online coupon site called ShopAtHome.com, I technically do this for a living (well, kinda). It’s just that I came across a not-to-miss deal on our homepage, and I was like, well, I should probably check it out to make sure it is as good as we are saying it is, and, next thing you know, I have thirteen tabs open watching videos of the clothes I want to buy.

Another confession—I tend to do this a lot. My husband (of one month now), has given me “the talk” and opened my eyes to the world of budgeting. Being the wonderful man that he is, he understands that I love shopping and buying dress after dress. And being the practical genius that he is, he has helped me understand that this love for shopping I have is OK, as long as it is kept in check. I mean, duh, pretty basic. But for real, actually putting a monthly budget on how much I can spend on clothes not only helps me be more aware of my finances in general, it makes for a happy marriage.

Decision-Making Time

So how do I hold myself responsible for abiding to my budget? Just like browsing with hangers of clothes on my arm at a local boutique, I browse (minus the hangers). I put things in my cart that I want to buy, and when it comes time to checkout, I narrow my cart down to what I LOVE LOVE, need, and what will fit into my budget.

Additional tricks of the trade I’ve learned on my journey as a shopaholic on a budget:

1. Free shipping is key! I buy A TON of things online, but I also return A TON of things, so free shipping is a must for me. Stores like ASOS, Nordstrom, Shopbop, Piperlime, and Zappos have free shipping and free returns, so those are my first stops.

1. Online coupons!! Before I worked at ShopAtHome.com I had no idea of all the money I could save by using online coupons and cash-back opportunities. There is always a sale, always a deal, and by using a coupon site like ShopAtHome.com first, you can get cash back (aka free money) on selective merchants. For real, this exists!

Wanna see some of the deals I just couldn’t quite pass up? I will preface these photos with the fact that I am going to Paris on my honeymoon in September, thus the chic black and white Parisian beauties!

Vila Dress with Glitter Stripes  originally $67.88. I got it for $47.52.

ASOS Pencil Skirt In Stripe originally $50.91. I got it for $20.36.

ASOS Skater Dress in Contrast Lace & Mesh Back originally $67.99. I got it for $47.52.

ASOS Vertical Stripe Skirt in Column Shape originally $54.30. I got it for $27.15.

ASOS Skater Skirt in Metallic originally $59.40. I got it for $17.82.

Total Savings: $140.11

With ShopAtHome offering 3.5% Cash Back on purchases made at ASOS, I earned: $4.68

I have a feeling my husband is going to like those saving numbers, and he will definitely like when I wear one of these numbers out on the Parisian town.

-Kelly

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Thanks again Kelly! Looks like I'll be coming home to do some online shopping!