I'm a girl for a bargain.  Always. I firmly believe in entering a department store and beelining to the clearance rack.  If I can't find what I need there then maybe I'll mosey through the rest of the store.  $20 for a top?  Hell-to-the-no! And this is when I actually coax myself into the department store, usually it's all about Target, Forever21, Pennys, Kohls, Love Culture... you get my drift.  The inexpensive stores.  (Notice I use the word "inexpensive" instead of "cheap" because it makes it sound like there's so much more quality goin on.)  For some reason I just can't part with my hard-earned dough on regular-priced items for myself.  Is this a good thing?  Yea, I'd say most of the time it is.  There's nothing like taking an EXTRA percentage off of something ALREADY marked down to get my juices flowin! 

But here's what I tend to end up with...

A bunch of tops that were really inexpensive.  Yay!
That I'm maybe only 75-80% into.  Boo.
But it's okay because I'm able to purchase more items to fill my closet for more variety!  YAY!
AAAND half of these new tops shrink, stretch, or rip after the first few washes because they're just really frikin cheaply made.  Yes, CHEAP.  Not inexpensive.  CHEAP!  BOO!

And many times I end up with ultimate clothing sadness.  So learn from my mistakes loyal blog readers (that of which I have none.  Don't think I don't know that!!!) 
Be picky about your bargains!   Follow these guidelines:

1.  Mark downs in high end stores= amazing, exciting, happy, hooray!! 
2. Mark downs in stores where clothing is already very cheap and oftentimes poorly made= boo, hiss, stay away!! Go ahead and peruse those racks but be CAUTIOUS holmes!
3.  I'm just gonna go ahead and give the kibosh to clothing at regular price that is ALREADY dirt cheap.. (like those $3 tee shirts you find at Forever21 and think, "oh wow what a great classic black top.. it can be a staple in my wardrobe I can wear it with everything!"-- uh yea for a month Amanda.  You can wear it with everything for a month until it no longer assumes the shape of a shirt anymore.

Hope this helps!
Love, Miss I-have-10-semi-nice-tops-and-25-tops-that-are-now-only-appropriate-for-couch-wear.