Shopping can be fun and enjoyable. It can also be overwhelming and confusing even for seasoned shoppers, so the first thing to recognise is that it’s quite common to find shopping an intense and sometimes unsatisfying experience.
I meet a lot of women who find their greatest frustration comes after the shopping trip – when they get their purchases home and discover that they don’t work as well as they hoped or thought they would when they were gazing lovingly at them in the stores.
1.Not know what they are shopping for before they hit the shops.
They have a “fire – aim” approach, rather than “ready – aim – fire” approach. They don’t do what we call a ‘wardrobe review’ before they go shopping, to determine where their gaps are and what they really need.
And even if they do a cursory wardrobe review, they rush in to fill gaps that are better left unfilled for a period of time.
This kind of shopping can often result in a scattered and random approach to shopping, where every alluring table display and rack of new items captures your attention, and you roam from store to store with no overarching plan or strategy in your head.
The result is that you have a much higher chance of bringing home ‘orphans’ that don’t work in your wardrobe as well as you would like, and that don’t coordinate with other items you have, or even items that don’t fit or don’t work with your lifestyle and personality. These are the items that can sit and hang unworn, unused and unloved in your closet, often with the tags still attached.
This is a huge waste and it’s no wonder so many women feel frustrated with their closets, and with shopping, when this happens over and over again.
2.We buy shoes that will definitely be too high for us
‘We often become magpies when it comes to shoes and bags because, let’s face it, they nearly ALWAYS fit,’ Stephanie tells us.
‘The one question we should ask ourselves when shoe shopping is: what do I need these shoes to do? Are they for walking the dog? Putting the finishing touch to an event outfit? The perfect day-to-night sandal? If they don’t fit the criteria, then don’t buy them.’
Heel height is usually the biggest problem, and Stephanie warns us of something she calls ‘the heel height sweet spot’.
‘You may be really comfy in a two-inch heel, but tottering about in a three-inch. By adjusting your posture – shoulders back and spine lengthened – you can grow another inch anyway!’
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