WSJ had an interesting article about how “chain-stores are holding bigger markdowns in reserve trying to gauge how long shoppers will wait for better deals to emerge.”

Some interesting statistics from the article, including how more shoppers this year are holding out shopping in hopes of better sales. Apparently “Nine of 10 people waiting to finish their holiday shopping are doing so to get discounts of at least 50%”.

What does this mean for shoppers and retailers? A walk around the mall will show you that there’s plenty of inventory out there waiting for shoppers, and so I am fairly confident shoppers will find plenty of deals around Christmas and in the New Year post-holiday sales.

Of course, there are some items in higher demand that might sell out early and will never go on sale, such as designer brands and of the moment must have items in the size you are looking for. However, if you are looking for generic top or sweater, be prepared for some good bargain hunting in a few weeks.

Sales tax in my county is now 9.25%.That’s basically 10%!

Buying online from places without a brick and mortar store in California automatically saves me that much. Or I can wait until I visit my friends in NYC where clothing under $100 isn’t taxed. Oh yes, I do look for reasons to shop don’t I? But it just makes going to Loehmann’s in NYC that much more fun

I need to buy stuff for the house soon and now seriously tempted to purchase most of my window coverings, home stuff, and furnishings online just to get around the sales tax. That and there’s such a better selection online because online stores on confined by limited floor space.

I think most girls go for the designer handbags, then maybe wallet or some other accessory, and then shoes. Well, I just worked myself up to the shoe level this past weekend.

Classy Tory Burch leather black pumps. Gorgeous, high quality, and super comfy for the 6 extra inches it gave me. And yes, this was a deal. Found it at Nordstrom Rack in my size.

The designer deals at the outlets right now are quite ridiculous. I went to Neiman Marcus Last Call outlet also, and there were racks of DVF (Diane Von Furstenberg) dresses and Tory Burch apparel. There were some excellent deals (dresses around $100 that were normally $450+), but I still held back. My reason is that I am already way to dressesd up for Silicon Valley California super casual. But I think a lot of people are holding back even in the outlets due to all the bad news about the economy.

Lots of inventory out there right now if you are looking for quality stuff in your size at the outlets.

I was in LA this past weekend, and somehow we ended up at South Coast Plaza.

That place is like a mini-city. We only hit a few stores and spent majority of the time at Bloomingdale’s and Sak’s because their sales was so fabulous. And as we all know, selection varies by store and lets just say the South Coast Plaza stores had some fabulous stuff (on sale).

Here’s my splurge purchase, a purple patent leather Ferragamo wallet. I absolutely love it! It’s shinny and cute, with perfect slots for everything. I got it for $150 (originally $450, sale at $300 and then there was an extra 50% off!). I did think this was the best deal possible, but I actually just found a similar deal online. So you can get one too

Below’s a fuzzy picture from my phone…

My New Purple Patent Leather Ferragamo Wallet

As I am cleaning out my closet, and looking through all the clothing I own, I realize I waste a lot of money of clothes that were cheap in quality that I did not end up wearing much.

Instead of buying 10 pieces of clothing that costs only $15 but might fit weird or color is a bit off, I really should have bought 4 high quality items that were on sale at $40 each (where original price was $100+).

But then fashion is whimsical and so is our shopping habits, and I do need those random “trendy for the moment” $15 pieces of clothing that are fun to wear for a few times.

Still, one of my new year’s resolution is to keep my purchase habits contained in the high quality deal category, and not the “wow, it’s only $4 so I must have it even though I probably would never wear it” bucket.

Quality vs quantity… quality vs quantity… Must keep my brand new elfa closet looking pretty…