subject: Smart Shopping - How To Take Advantage Or Store's Layaway Policies [print this page] It used to be that most stores offered layaway plans. That is when the store puts something aside for you and you either make payments on it until it is paid for or you pay for it at some later date. Although some stores still offer layaway, with the popularity of credit cards, layaway plans are not as readily available.
If you find a store that has styles you like and they do offer a layaway plan, here is the best way to make use of it. Every man's wardrobe has certain items that are bought to last for a while such as winter coats, rain coats, or a nice dark gray suit. You might buy a new one to add variety but you typically use these items for more than one year. This gives you the chance to invest in quality.
Like any good investment there is a good time to buy and hold. With a layaway program you essentially get the advantage of the holding and defer the buying until you get a better price. Let's take a look at an example for the winter coat. As the fall turns to winter you see the stores offering lots of winter coats. People buy them when the time of year reminds them that they need them, but you are going to be smarter than that. You are going to find the nicest winter coat that fits you perfectly and put it on layaway, then you are going to wait until spring time.
Why is that? Because you gain three advantages; (1) you make sure that there is a coat in your size waiting for you, since you put it away when there was an abundance of choice; (2) you don't have to fully pay for it at the highest sales price (except may be make nominal, as small as possible, layaway payments while you wait) and (3) as spring approaches all the remaining winter coats will go on sale. The sale items will be all the leftovers or returns and probably there will not be one in your size or as nice as the one you picked out months before because that is why the remaining winter coats did not sell.
That is when you march back into the store to pay for your winter coat held in layaway and politely ask the manager for the sale price discount! They hardly ever refuse because if you don't buy that winter coat from layaway it is going to end up on the sale rack anyway.
If your favorite store does not have a layaway plan, then you are limited to reverse cycle timing of your purchases in order to save money. That means you buy winter clothes in summer and summer clothes in winter.
In many areas there are discount outlets that have all the overstock and you can find great bargains if you buy clothes at the times of year that they are not made for wearing. In these cases you will be getting last year's fashion but that is not as variable as you might think when it comes to standards that you need in your wardrobe such as the example of the winter coat. A good winter coat should last quite a few years. Happy bargain hunting!
