How to Shop the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale Like a Boss

The Nordstrom Anniversary Sale is kind of a big deal in the fashion world. For a lot of people it’s like Christmas in July/August. If you follow other fashion bloggers I’m sure that you are very familiar with the NSale as they have been sharing their top picks to help you shop.

This year, I had my very first experience shopping the Nordstrom Sale and I discovered just how intense the sale can be!! If you have a loyalty card you get to access to the sale early either online or in store. The rest of the population gets access a little later. Stuff sells out fast so if you are hoping to pick something up, you might want to consider getting the card so you can shop early.

With only three days left to shop the sale, I’m here to help you put together a little game plan.

Shopping the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale like a boss

When it comes to shopping a sale like this here are 5 tips to make sure you shop it like a boss:

1. Create a list of what you need/want – and stick to it!! A sale like this can be a good time to pick up the items that you have been lusting after for awhile but couldn’t pay full price for. Now is the time to grab them if you can! In the fall and winter months, I basically live in riding boots and I have had my eye on a pair of Tory Burch ones for a few years now. I couldn’t imagine paying full price for them though. When I saw them in the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale I knew that it was time to finally snag a pair.
2. Don’t get swept up in the madness and buy more than you intend/can afford. Sure, it seems like a great deal now and you will probably get a lot of wear out of them but is it something you really need? The last thing you want is to suffer from buyer’s remorse when the credit card bill arrives in the mail. I shopped the sale in person and at one point I had so many shoes in front of me with the ever so helpful sales person bringing me more! Seeing a huge pile of shoes was a bit much. I had to really buckle down and start sending shoes back. If I had been home shopping online, it would have been so much easier to overspend because you don’t really see what you are buying until the package arrives. This goes back to why you need a list.
3. Do your research ahead of time. Check around to other sites to make sure you are actually getting a good deal. I knew how much my boots were elsewhere so I was able to be confident in my selections. There is nothing worse than thinking you found something on sale only to discover someone else had it listed at a better price. However, the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale is pretty good so you probably won’t find better deals elsewhere.
4. To continue with doing your research, know exactly what sizes you need for all the people you are shopping for. When I know that a sale is coming up, if I am shopping online, I like to go into the store ahead of time and try on the items that I am interested in. This way I know if a) I really like it and b) what size to get. It makes shopping online a breeze.
5. This last tip is for the international shoppers – be aware of the difference in the dollar and any customs/duty charges you will incur. When I converted my purchases from $US to $CDN the deal wasn’t quite as good as I initially thought but I still got a decent savings. I also had to check that I was sticking below my personal exemption allowance for my flight home otherwise I would have had an additional charge on top. When you shop online, most places (including Nordstrom) calculate these charges at checkout so you will know. These charges can sometimes be pretty big and there are no exemptions for items bought online. I’ve had packages show up before where I had to pay duty and it was almost equivalent to the item inside the box!! Not fun.

So know that you know how to shop the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale, what are you hoping to buy? Let me know in the comments below.

Charlene xoxo