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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

I only buy them in the sales!

133 replies

Butterismylife · 03/02/2022 20:54

Usually on topics about clothes, but it is becoming repetitive. Why does everyone who admits to purchasing from brands that have high price tags have to insist they ONLY buy in the sales? (white co, Toast, etc)

Is it some new kind of virtue signalling, to literally have to remind everyone that you never, ever pay full price? Who cares? It’s like insisting ‘I have impeccable taste but I am so terribly thrifty!’

So much bloody posturing around the virtues of thriftiness - surely this is designed to insinuate that the poster is of a certain class, whilst sheepishly insisting they don’t believe in it.

It’s a sort of extension of the repetitive class related posts that always insist they grew up working class but are (of course!)……middle class now! Every damned time. Are we a culture of clones?

Who days this crap in real life ?
For the record, fairly lighthearted rant .

OP posts:

twominutesmore · 03/02/2022 23:22

mn gets weirder by the day. The list of stuff that upsets and angers people seems to be enormous. If I thought people in rl felt like this, I don't think I'd ever speak to anyone again.

If you are complimented on an item of clothing (or furniture or anything really) it's perfectly normal to say where you got it from and roughly how much you paid.

Sometimes you're chuffed that people are complimenting you on that item you got for a bargain price. Sometimes you don't want to look like a braggart so point out that the item was half price. Never in all my days have I seen any of this as virtue signalling. I mean what would the virtue be? Madness.

JugglingJanuary · 03/02/2022 23:23

I don't think it's virtue signalling at all. I think. It's either that someone doesn't have the money to buy at full retail price or doesn't think the item is worth the full asking price.

NewYearEveryYear · 03/02/2022 23:24

I have several shops I only buy from the sales in. And we have a pretty decent income. It's not about the money it's about what it's worth, to me, personally.

EG White Company bedding... is worth £80 to me, not £160.

Happymum12345 · 03/02/2022 23:26

I know what you mean op, although I’ve said the line myself! It’s almost a way of apologising or explaining why I bought another nice dress to my mum or dh

Littlehouseonthefairy · 03/02/2022 23:26

What? I only buy ALL my clothes in the sales because I hardly have any fricking money. I don't think people are virtue signalling. They are just saying they aren't loaded.

ufucoffee · 03/02/2022 23:27

If I say it it's because I think the clothes are overpriced and therefore I won't pay full price.

Hawkins001 · 03/02/2022 23:27

I prefer discount price, as usually the original price is over hyped for the company to make a profit, vs production costs of the items

Ohlalaohlala · 03/02/2022 23:28

Because anyone who admits to paying full price for a high value item will be considered braggy.

Also, if someone says they like my jacket/shoes/socks I literally cannot just say ‘thanks’. My mouth always follows up with ‘oh they were only 8 quid from Tesco’

Mothermorph · 03/02/2022 23:32

I think part of it is almost conditioning.
I grew up wearing second hand clothes, hand-me downs, charity shop stuff and had new clothes for birthday or Christmas. When I was first married I was on quite a decent salary but I would automatically look for a bargain or go straight to the sale rail in a shop, out of habit.
My dad was the same, he had grown up post war and with very little . In later life however, he could comfortably afford to shop in waitrose but always looked for reduced price stuff. My IL were the opposite. They came from quite a deprived area but after right to buy were much more comfortably off. MIL loved shopping in M and S food Hall and was very dismissive and snobby about places like poundland or B and M bargains!

Ncwinc · 03/02/2022 23:34

Bed linen is a really good example. There are so many 20% off weekends at John Lewis, Selfridges, M&S etc that full price seems more like 120%.

Nowayoutonlydown · 03/02/2022 23:40

I think a lot of people say the things you mention because they don't want to seem like they're being flash or have low self esteem.

I always do it, and it drives even me mad. I wish I didn't do it.
Someone told me they liked my snazzy glittery trainers. My answer! Thank you, I got them for £4!
Someone likes something that's branded...thanks I nicked them off DD when she grew out of them!
Anything designer....thanks I got it second hand/ from an outlet/ on sale.

Ugh I wish I could just accept the compliment without a cringe response!

Blossomtoes · 03/02/2022 23:43

I like Toast but I can’t afford its clothes at full price. Surely that’s why most people wait for the sales?

GellerYeller · 03/02/2022 23:44

I used to work full time and have decent clothes. Now I work part time and have adult sized teens so the budget is split and weighted in their favour. If I want something higher end then it has to be at sale price. I've no qualms about telling people.
The 'naice' high street chains used to be a better cut or quality fabric. But that doesn't always seem the case so much now so sale price feels like paying what it's worth.

Exhausteddog · 03/02/2022 23:45

Bed linen is a really good example. There are so many 20% off weekends at John Lewis, Selfridges, M&S etc that full price seems more like 120%.

There surely can't be anyone in history who's ever paid full price for a sofa in DFS? (or any item at all in Debenhams -RIP)
Or paid £24.99 for a pack if sharpies in WHsmith....

Ncwinc · 03/02/2022 23:52

DFS

PyongyangKipperbang · 03/02/2022 23:54

When I bought my Le Crueset (get me!) I had a much higher income and paid full price. When I bought my KitchenAid I had been left some money to treat myself and found a used once one on ebay and got it for £150 (dozy prat selling it had used it once, it was in original packaging and was being sold because they were changing their kitchen decor....it was black ffs!) but I would have paid full price.

Now however I am officially poor and would rather save up for ages to get good quality and will wait for the sales, so some would judge me for owning, say, Dr Martens but I will say "I got them in the sales and cost per wear they will last a lot longer than the Primark knock offs".

I am defensive because others judge a poor person having nice things.

Iamthewombat · 03/02/2022 23:55

@Imissmoominmama

I always buy clothes in the sales- why wouldn’t I? Why would I pay up to 50% more for the same thing?

And this:

What’s wrong with buying in the sales?

I feel sorry for the OP. She isn’t criticising anyone for buying clothes in sales. Instead, she objects when people insist on telling her the posh label of the item then saying, “but I only buy in the sales!”

I knew as soon as I started reading that a Greek chorus of “you’re so mean, you sneer at people who buy clothes in sales. Why shouldn’t I buy clothes in sales?” was imminent.

Iamthewombat · 04/02/2022 00:01

@User0458832

I do because full price is generally overpriced and why would I pay more than I have to, it's just clothes. I would be mad to pay £60 for something if I just wait a couple of months and pay £30.

And, from the same poster:

Anyone who pays full price for clothes must be mad or else very well off.

When I read things like this, I think, was anyone really surprised to learn about the Rana Plaza disaster, or to discover that garment workers in Bangladesh are working for a pittance? When we all expect constant discounts and super cheap clothes?

Maybe that is the answer, OP. The “it’s Joseph, but I only buy in the sales!” crew want to let you know that they (probably) aren’t buying clothes made in sweatshops but they aren’t ostentatious like those women who pay full price, no.

tricky29 · 04/02/2022 00:14

I was genuinely made up to find 2 x £90 t shirts in tk maxx for £20 each. I would never pay £90 for one but to find 2 so cheap I was bloody delighted! There is a lot of joy to be had in a bargain. I know £20 seems daft for a tshirt but they were useful - v neck in navy and white and I wear them week in week out.
They are still in really good condition 3+ years on.

NotVeryChattySchoolMum · 04/02/2022 00:34

Can you imagine boasting paying decorator only a tenner to paint whole house? What a bargain...

Of course not.

I also noticed people are happier to admit paying big prices as long as they are 'bespoke', 'handmade', obvious quality material..."deserving" of full price?

White Company/Boden/Hobbs do seem to be too high street/mass-produced for this clearly, no?

Luhou · 04/02/2022 01:20

I am one for saying this. I think it's my way of saying...I like nice clothes but also I am not thick enough to pay full price for them when they'll be in the sale next week. Or I might say it if I was talking to somebody who may not be able to afford that brand, I'd feel less entitled, if I said I only buy in the sale

User0458832 · 04/02/2022 05:30

Maybe shops shouldn't be putting staples in the sale every 6 months like underwear and T shirts, every year DH buys his socks and pants in the sale from M&S each year and I always wonder why they are in the sale anyway, why don't shops just carry on selling staples like this at full price instead of bringing out a new pack of pants and selling the nearly identical ones for half price.

The only things that should be sold cheaper are high fashion items as this constant updating and selling off cheap staples is just adding to landfill so yes at the moment while shops insist on doing this people are mad to pay full price.

Dontfuckingsaycheese · 04/02/2022 05:42

I am guilty of this! It adds extra value to the complement if you got it for a bargain 🙂 Most of my fancy clothes are from charity shops. It adds an extra shine to it when I got a fabulous piece for £4!! I buy a lot of Per Una in charity shops - I love their jazziness! (Too jazzy?? 😆) I can spot them a mile off! I have never bought anything new from there!

AgentJohnson · 04/02/2022 06:18

I hate paying full price for anything. If I bagged a bargain I will say I bagged a bargain. Jesus, the things get annoyed about, where do you get the time.

Goatinthegarden · 04/02/2022 06:39

I work in a job where there’s a set pay scale and my friends at work all get paid the same as me. My workmates are mostly all the highest earners in their families and have children. I don’t have children and DH earns much more than I do.

Conversations at work are often about saving for mortgages, cutting back on takeaway coffees and being short of cash at the end of the month. I keep quiet about the fact that I have quite a lot of disposable income. I don’t want to seem showy, flash or different and so if someone compliments my belongings, I downplay it as sale, bargain or 200 years old.

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