A shopoholic’s best friend

by Keondra Walker, Alestle copy editor

I may be addicted to shopping.

Buyer’s remorse may affect some people after dropping a little more cash then they planned, but if they shopped more wisely, the addiction doesn’t have to be so painful.

Who doesn’t enjoy finding a good deal or getting a certain percentage off of their purchase?

Over the years, I have gotten smarter about shopping, and I have learned a thing or two about saving money. Whenever I purchase anything online, I find myself going to www.retailmenot.com to search for coupon codes for the website I am purchasing from. I have saved anywhere from $5 to 40 percent off my entire purchase just from finding coupon codes. I have also been able to snag a free item or get free shipping on my purchase.

When I am in the stores, if an item is a little steep for my pockets, I like to write down the name of the item, model number, sizes and whatever else I may need so that I can go home and look the item up on the wonderful world of eBay.

Just the other day I purchased a Coach purse from Macy’s and paid $318 for it. Crazy right? Well to the average college student it is … so I returned it the next day. It was kind of an “I-love-shopping-let’s-go-crazy-and-spend-a-lot-of-money” spur of the moment kind of thing for me. But there was a way around this department store obstacle.

I wrote down the model number and looked it up on eBay. There it was. I was able to purchase the same Coach purse (yes, it was 100% authentic on eBay), brand-new for $115.

Times are tough and college students are generally on the broke side, but if you search hard enough, you can still get that designer item you want—and cheap, too.