Your Do’s and Don’ts for Black Friday & Cyber Monday Shopping

Another holiday season is upon us, which means the unrelenting urge to spend all your disposable income on the best end-of-year sales is too. Enter me, Kiana, vulnerable and at your disposal, to help you navigate the most infamous battle of consumers known to shopping veterans everywhere: Black Friday and Cyber Monday. So walk, don’t run, into this fight with a strategy fit for Kings, Queens, and all royalty in between.

Photo: @maayanyve

DO strategize beforehand! If the early bird gets the worm, the early shopper gets 50% off that leather jacket they’ve been eyeing, before it goes out of stock. Make a list of your favorite stores to shop and your must-have items for your wardrobe and home. If you’re sitting there like, “Kiana, I have no idea where to start” then scrap the specifics and create a mood board of your favorite celebrity looks and trends to help direct you as you rifle through racks and scroll through pages.

My strategy involves targeting the more expensive, investment pieces on my wishlist:

DO shop from minority-owned companies! Let’s take our hard-earned dollars to hard-working small businesses. Support the underdog and help them become the alphas on campus. So, should you feel a familiar pang of shoppers' guilt coming on, you can remind yourself who you’re supporting. These are also the places with the one-of-a-kind wears and wares you won’t see everyday so be sure to add them to your mood boards.

Here are some of my favorite brands to shop from this holiday season:

DO wait if you hesitate! We all know the feeling. It’s cute and it’s discounted, so you’re trying to convince yourself you need it or that it will look good with those shoes you bought last year. But there’s just something that keeps you from running to the checkout. For me, it’s an ongoing conflict between my heart and my head. But then I remember the wise words once bestowed upon me by a dear friend: “If it’s not a full-body-YES then it’s a full-body-NO.”

These are on my personal full-body-yes list:

DON’T get caught up in the discount! Sale psychology and sneaky marketing will try to convince you that the cashmere scarf is a steal, but be conscious of what the savings actually are. If it checks all the boxes of the Do’s and Don’ts list then it might just be worth it, but otherwise delete delete delete from cart (or run far away from the register).

DON’T convince yourself that you’ll alter it and make it better! You might convince yourself (as I have many-a-time) that you’ll finally start sewing and DIY that ill-fitting dress into a flirty and fun crop top and skirt. But let’s be honest with ourselves, that dress will sit crumpled in a corner until you donate it to your nearest Goodwill.

DON’T do final sale items. This is especially pertinent for shopping online. I know the color is gorgeous, it looks oh-so soft, and you can imagine your perfect someone seeing you from across the room wearing it and falling head-over-heels in love BUT…in the words of the Spice Girls, STOP RIGHT NOW. Unless you’re absolutely certain it’s a perfect fit, it’s just not worth the risk. And do your homework to make sure that the item you’re buying is returnable. When in doubt, check the FAQ page or ask a sales rep.

Here’s to you and your Black Friday / Cyber Monday shopping experience! Let us know what amazing steals you find on our latest Instagram post!