Heading to NYC

New York City is like a goldmine for fashionistas and urban culture lovers alike. It's such a huge city, with so much to see and always something NEW to see. NYC is definitely not one of those "been there, done that" type of places.

I'll be spending the upcoming weekend in NYC (Yay!). Although I'm disappointed that I couldn't be there for Fashion Week, I'm happy to be able to visit at least. Hopefully the high from fashion week won't have already faded.

When I head to NYC, I always look forward to the shopping - who doesn't?

However, I'm also always very wary of overspending. When you're surrounded by all the hype, shiny stores, nice salesmen, promos and red sales signs, it's easy to slip, and say to yourself

• "but, it's SUCH a good deal!"
• "of course I'll get a lot of use out of this!"
• "If I don't buy it now, I won't have the chance after"

....but 99% of the time, it's not worth the deal and it ends up collecting dust in the back of your closet.

So, to avoid this I like to travel with a list of my top 5 to 10 wants + needs and I don't shop for other things, until I've fulfilled these top items.

I also list all the stores that are priority to visit.

How do I do that? Well, online catalogs/shopping are great for you to see what items you want already, which collections intrigue you the most and what's within your budget.

p.s. always do this step WITHOUT your credit card nearby.

I write up an actual list of things that I want with the prices and their locations, and see if it fits into my budget, or if I can purchase it later on sale. If I realize that those items I've written down are most likely to go on sale, are unnecessary because they don't fit with the rest of my closet or I have something similar, I cross it off.

Hope this helps some of you the next time you try to budget for shopping trips!