Shopping 101

Shopping can be the worst. One moment you are like: I could use some new [insert name of clothing here], and the next you want to lie on the floor and cry while loud Taylor Swift is being pumped into your badly lit dressing room. Shopping wrecks havoc on me in particular because sometimes I forget that I look like a human and not a photoshopped picture, and I end up not only forcing myself into a size that doesn't fit  but also a ideal that real human beings don't fit in (female beauty expectations). 

Over the years I've created a way to acquire new clothes without going 100% crazy, an I thought since I went shopping with my friend Cece a little while ago, I would give you my (possibly helpful) guide, and share some photos.

1. Look your kind of gorgeous
Take a bath or a shower, do your hair if you feel like it, and go to sleep at a relatively normal time so you feel rested. In the morning, put on makeup if you do that kind of thing, do perfume and/or deodorant or whatever, just make sure that when you look in the mirror you feel HAWT. Leave the house bumping whatever song makes you feel like hot shit, even if that song is Girls Just Wanna Have Fun. 

2. Wear separates (aka not a dress)
This helps because if you are trying on shirts you have a pair of your own real life pants to try it on with, as well as vice versa. You can avoid the I-like-this-but-does-it-go-with-anything-in-my-closet problem, and you don't have to compare your new shirt to the random pants you grabbed just to see what it would look like with pants.
A follow up on this is wear comfy clothes and shoes, that you can get easily in and out of without your entourage.

3. Know what you need.
If you want a new deliciously comfortable sweater (like I always do) but know you need jean shorts, it will be easier to move away from the maroon fluffyness that you may have just taken off a rack. Along those lines, you might want to decide what stores you are going to before hand so you don't get overwhelmed or lost in your options. (We needed 20's themed dresses)

 

4. Give yourself a budget.
This way your money won't disappear! However, make sure that you bring something to buy food with, which brings us to our next topic...

5. Food is Lyfeee
Make sure you have a budget for food throughout your shopping trip, and maybe bring a granola bar to munch on when hunger hits. Shopping is exhausting physically and emotionally, so having food is beyond essential. When you get grumpy, eat.  Also don't forget to pack feminine products, gum or throat lozenges, gift cards that you might have, and your phone (with a charger                                                                           

Good Luck, and Happy Shopping!