The Art of Re-gifting

In almost every wardrobe I have the pleasure of decluttering and restyling, I find them. Sometimes in a shoe box, sometimes in a carrier bag, sometimes in its original wrapping paper but nonetheless a hangover from the Christmas before the Christmas before: the unwanted gifts that never had the chance to give. It’s always hard when Christmas rocks around and you have to perfect your “I love it” face when 69% of us will be the lucky recipients of gifts we don’t like. Even those who operate a strict Stick to The List policy get the occasional maverick relative who goes off-list gift when all you really wanted was Zara vouchers. In 2012 M&S discovered that during the festive period over one in four of us – a staggering 15 million – admits to putting unwanted gifts straight in to the bin. So what are your alternatives?

·         Take it back - Most shops won’t take Christmas returns during the Christmas sale period so check the receipt before heading to the high street.

·         Sell it – eBay, Vestiaire, Buy My Wardrobe are good go-to sites for clothes, shoes and accessories.

·         Recycle it – Gumtree and Freecycle are two sites that will find a match for your unwanted gift. You can still specify a price on Gumtree but things tend to be free on Freecycle (funny that…)

·         Give it to charity – if you didn't buy a poppy this year then think of your charitable donation as your slice of karma pie to take you in to 2014.

·         Re-gift it - you keep the gift and give it to someone else.

Re-gifting will save you money, save you time and keep things out of landfill. It really is as easy as 1, 2, 3 but you must follow these rules:

1. The gift has to be unsuitable for you but totally perfect for someone else in your life; another friend, relative, colleague (hereby known as the gift-receiver). The gift MUST suit the gift-receivers taste and style as if you had gone to the shops and purchased it for them.

2. You should never tell the gift-giver what happened to their gift – this will make you appear ungrateful

3. The gift-giver and gift-receiver MUST be in separate social circles preferably in another part of the country. This works great if you have friends and family in different cities.

The art of re-gifting is seeing all the possibilities in a gift and thinking beyond it as a gift that you don’t want- who would it bring joy to in your life? The beauty of re-gifting means that you are suitably prepared for the year ahead. All you need to do is wrap the gift and write the card. And you've done your bit by keeping something out of landfill. Now go and polish your halo.

The best time to shop...

Shopping is now a 24/7 activity: online, on the high street, on your phone. The choice of when to shop, how to shop, has exploded. But if the high street is still your poison, these are my top tips are getting the best out of your shopping experience:

1.       Shop as early in the day as possible. You will have more space, more attention from the shop assistants, and more choice.

2.       If you can’t shop early, shop before lunch. Big shops get deliveries of stock every day, smaller shops 2 or 3 times a week. Deliveries contain new lines and replenishment of lines already on the shopfloor. Shops usually give themselves a deadline (11am or lunchtime) by which all new lines of stock have to be put out on the shopfloor. This means brand spanking new clothes and you get a full size ratio of brand new stock to pick from – no missing size 10s and trying to squeeze yourself into an 8.

3.       Shop in the week, not the weekend. Saturday and Sunday have always been the days when, traditionally, the high street was swamped due to people working 9-5 Monday to Friday. Even though people work nights/work from home, Saturday and Sunday are still the busiest days on the high street due to kids not being in school on these days. Monday will always be the quietest day and as the week progresses, the shops get busier.

Let me know how you get on. Til next time…x

Why do shops always move things?

You found the perfect dress for your cousins’ wedding but you have to wait to be paid before you can buy it. Come the end of the month, and a healthier bank balance, you go back to the shop and….the dress is gone. Queue some ranting, raving, maybe some tears.  Sound familiar?

It’s really frustrating but shops move things for a number of reasons:

1.       To showcase new stock. When new fashion lines arrive on delivery tfrom the warehouse they are placed at the front of the shop to catch peoples eye, to entice them in. If the same stock sat at the front of the shop each time you walked past, you wouldn’t shop there because you would be bored of seeing it. So are the staff.

2.       To indicate the change in season. Now we are firmly in 2012 coats and knits from AW11 have been pushed back to make way for fresh, new, exciting SS12 clothes. Check out M&S with their new nautical flavoured windows launched this week.

3.       To launch a campaign. This is just common sense on the part of retailers. They have spent serious dosh on an advertising campaign bragging about their wonderful new clothes to the general public so they want those clothes to be easily accessible to you, the consumer. Where do they place the clothes? At the front of the store. Meaning everything that was previously in that area has to be worked into the stock package elsewhere in the shop.

But ultimately shops rotate their stock package on a regular basis to keep you shopping and to keep you spending money. Simples!

Til next time…x