SALE through the Winter Storm

Because of the short holiday shopping season, all of the online, retail, sidewalk and pop-up stores are all having their massive end of season sales. This is despite the fact that winter has just arrived in NYC with Winter Storm Sandy.

And the sellers are marketing to the shoppers hard-core with a promotional email campaign that clutters my in-box almost every hour. They don't even bother with a discount tease, where they start with 25%, then 50%, followed by 55 and a half, then bam, you get up to 90% off (i.e. we are practically paying you to take this out of the store). In a twisted way, I look forward to the emails so that I can delete them as quickly as I get them. It's my Angry Birds Junk Mail game. But you can't escape them. With computer cookies tracking what you look at online even by accident, you're bombarded by the seller's message…"buy it now while it's 70% off with free shipping."

The free shipping always gets me.

But I resisted as much as I could until I realized that I had a stack of gift cards from Christmas. It doesn't take a math wizard to realize that using my card to buy merchandise at a deep discount would maximize my free money. And it was the perfect excuse to buy this Zara floral sweater (note: I bought the darker version). So the lesson is that a holiday gift card is the gift that keeps on giving.

YES
Sale through the winter storm by buying up something that will take you through spring's full retail merchandise.

NO
Don't buy anything you don't need. You're more evolved than I am.

MAYBE
You're Billionaire Buffet and don't need a sale. If that's the case, it's never too late to send me a gift card Mr. Buffet. I will spend the cash at one of your many stores you are deeply invested in.