How to not shop for really cute gyaru clothes (even though you really want to)
Posted January 13th, 2013 by Mitsu
The awesome b-gyaru store LB-03 in Osaka OPA
Clothes are so awesome aren’t they? I don’t drink much, I try not to indulge in sweets, I cook at home a ton lately, so clothes and traveling are my only vices, and my animals 
But I need to stop shopping because I’m saving up for my trip to Tokyo in March.
If you’re like me are saving or in need of a few tips to curb their spending here’s what I’m doing.
I’m accompanying this post with photos from June 2012 from when I was in Osaka at their fabulous OPA mall. (Previous picture posts in OPA 2011 - here and here , 2010 and a lot of shop staff pictures found here ).
Joyrich originally an LA store, but has flourished in Japan.
1) Shop for goals
I think this one is something I’ve tried to do lately with good results. For me it’s workout related. So I try to only indulge myself if I hit my workout goals for 2 weeks. Fitness and fabulous clothes, win win!
Also, if I have so much a percentage in my bank account I’ll then buy something, but I won’t empty my spending account for an item of clothing. I love buying clothes but I really hate the sad nervous feeling of having an empty bank account afterwards. So buying 50% or so in my account has really helped me not regret shopping.
A couple walks by even the cutest Dazzlin’ store.
2) Shop for needs
So those shoes may be super cute but do you need heels in snowy winter? Maybe you need a new coat instead but those heels are the hot girl in high school getting all the attention when you really need a fun spunky practical girl like in all those high school romance movies.
Spend more money on the things you’ll wear more like shoes and coats and less on the top you’ll wear only twice a month. This way your money goes to essentials and not excess. Below is the best list I can leave on how to shop smart during winter-time.
Go on girl, buy that top from Spiral Girl in the middle of summer. Especially if it’s on sale.
3) Reblog the cute clothes you like on tumblr
Reblog, reblog, reblog. If you reblog something you own it right? If so I own 80,000 cats, high fashion garments, Liz Lisa and a lot of skies. I’M RICH! But telling somethng you think something is cute is often fulfilling.
#cuteclothesforMinirdeesthatI’dreblogontumblr
4) Be aware of sales seasons
Buying something you need is great, but finding out a week later it went on sale for 1/2 off is lady cockblock at its finest.
Worst times to shop:
February | end of May for Spring clothes
October – November for Autumn clothes
Best times to shop:
December – January for Winter clothes
June – July for Summer clothes
Mid season sales are the best time to get your fix on for the season, but buy sparingly. Silver week (September 18th – 22nd) and Golden Week (April 29 – May 5th) sales often offer good set deals.
If you’re in Japan during the bad seasons, wait for novelties. Most every store in Japan has in person novelties during non-big sale times. If you really want to shop it pays to wait. Liz Lisa every other week seems to have great in store novelties (webstore y u no the same 
)
Datura and Lands of Eden advertising their great sales since it was June. Work that pole girl.
5) If all else fails. Put things in your shopping cart, close the window
Do it as many times as you want. Put everything you love in the cart. Look at the price tag. Have sticker shock. Close the computer window. Rinse, repeat. You’re still safe!
No cute shop staff of Garula, I can’t come in. Saving my yen.
Stay strong! 
We can do it together!
Gals I’m big on stop helping each other out instead of putting each other down (more of this in the community please ) 
. So what are your tips on not spending even if you really get the urge. Or tips on saving! Leave them below 
You pretty much hit all the points! I think I will be referring to this post for the next few months, until summer comes >w< It's so difficult not to shop for me, cause I just love the feeling of going out with my sis or something for a day of shopping. One of the main things I do is just look at some clothing I like, imagine what it would feel like if I owned it, and say to myself "I don't need that" and 90% of the time, the image in my head of me owning it isn't all that great! But if it IS that great, that's when I know it's worth the buy.
Agreed! I’m trying to scale back need vs want vs buy. It’s really a hard change to do, though :D
This is very helpful! I just went crazy last week and went shopping several times plus online shopping O___O (Luckily most of the items were on winter sale) Now I try to save up. My tip: don’t go to shops nor online stores during your saving period. If you don’t see it, you don’t want it. The moment I see something nice I’d buy it anyways despite my saving plans, bank account etc.
Otherwise I’d think about that item all the time, so as I said “What the eye does not see, the heart does not grieve over.” haha
Definitely! Out of site out of mind. Although admittedly I’d be recommending people not to read this blog so LOL I can say with the exception of this blog, right? XD
I was totally there yesterday! Unfortunately we didn’t get to shop there!! But I definitely want to go back to see all of the stores! To keep myself from over spending I’m gonna use these tips!! :D
I love OPA! One of my fave gyaru malls. The shop staff IMHO are some of the nicest around.
THANK YOU for this post! I’m really sick of this negative vibe in the gyaru community!
And I have been so picky lately on what to buy and whatnot! I only really splurged on Liz Lisa stuff and Duras stuff this past month XDDD so that is my big splurge for now until I feel safe enough money wise to buy more!
Thanks for this though honestly!
It needs to stop! Positivity breeds positive things!
So excited to see your Duras bits! Duras does such lovely clothes
Thank you for the great post! I think the very first time is one I’m definitely going to try and live by. It’s a classic technique that I always seem to do the opposite of. Usually I shop to make myself feel better when things are bad, when I really should be using it as motivation to work hard.
Personally, I find that tumblr makes my shopping addiction worse. When I used to follow tons of fashion blogs not only did I spend waaay too much time on tumblr because there was so much to scroll through, but I also bought a lot more that I probably didn’t need. I’d see something on tumblr and just have to have it. Now I’ve reduced my list a lot so that I only follow the blogs that inspire me the most (or are most soothing to look at xD). I try to look more at coordinates than individual items. It helps me to see how I can pair things with what I already have so I don’t overbuy. Or, alternatively, how that adorable sweater actually isn’t going to work with any of my wardrobe and I should let it go.
Agreed! I was going to make rule number one don’t shop when you’re sad, but wondered if that made me seem like such a sad sack but I think emotional shopping is something that’s hard to curb but a must!
LOL Oh really? Lately I’m really happy just sharing. Although lately it’s not clothes that I like on tumblr but Baroque interiors and modern art and such :D
The sales are crazy right now. I am in such disbelief! I got 2 pairs of pants for ¥300 each and two sweaters for ¥700 total! If it wasn’t miserable and rainy, I’d be shopping the sales right now!
WOW! Jan sales are the best (and July). Still more months of cold to enjoy winter items in
These are super helpful tips! I have a few myself:
1) Locally most of the stores where I live mostly stock bad quality clothing *even though its cheap*, so I’ve completely eliminated those stores from my gaze.. like even when they have massive sales and the prices are ridiculous. Even if they are cute I convince myself that they’ll break in a few washes anyway so theres no point. At the moment I only shop at 2 brands locally and they have some pretty gross clothing for summer.. a plus for my wallet I suppose.
2) I get emails from a lot of stores regarding sales (especially during christmas season..omg there was a shit ton of them) but I’m also saving for a trip now and what I do is when I see the brand name as the topic title I IMMEDIATELY delete that LOL. Out of sight out of mind. Checking out items on sale only tempts me to buy more =S
3) For those who are within the common sizes (I guess this doesn’t apply to Japanese clothing since they’re mostly freesize), for Australia this is about AU8-12, your sizes are the ones that will most likely go on sale. So its worthwhile to wait. I work in a clothing store and they stock a lot of those and only 1 or 2 for the more uncommon sizes, its pretty much the same everywhere. Don’t be afraid to ask the sales rep if it has been a popular item – especially if they’re not on commission they (and I) don’t really care if you’re waiting for it to go on sale.
4) Online shopping: If I’m a bit ehhh on an item I don’t buy it immediately (unless I know I can return it without any hassles). I keep it on a tab in my browser and wait (usually till I get paid) and if its there, I have money to spare but if its not, boo hoo =S sometimes I miss out on good items but its saved me a little money.
Offline shopping: If you’re a bit ehh get the sales rep to put it on hold if they can and go home and have a good long think about it. As a sales person I personally prefer putting things on hold for people than processing exchanges/returns etc, its a hassle for both parties.
Ehh theres more but I hope these will be useful for someone!
1. YES! I’m so sick of bad quality!
2. YES!! I unsubscribed to some last week to stop temptation XD
3. Agreed! I like Marc by Marc and Jeremy Scott and I rarely buy their stuff unless it’s on sale. My size in them is pretty average (Medium) so I’m pretty safe about knowing it’ll be in stock
4. I’ve got 4 browser tabs open and keep looking back to see if I really want it.
Your tips were wonderful! Thank you for sharing them!!
I think the best one I can think of is quality over quantity. You could buy one really beautiful sweater to wear many times, or 4 “ok” sweaters and wear them each twice.
Your tips will hopefully be helpful… I am shopaholic-ing lately D:
AGREED!!!!! SO MUCH AGREED!!! After cleaning out my closet last year I thought of all the things I kept and realized why I did and base more on that.
I really like this type of post! you’re able to show people your shop pics, while talking about something interesting.
honestly, for me, i don’t really like posts that are just pic spam… especially if it’s about stuff that’s readily accessible to me… so i think this is a great way to make all your blog readers happy!
I wish I could always do it and I agree it’s a nice combo but a lot of topics don’t match up ): I’ll take your words to heart though
I need to be an old fart and save money (and not in the exciting, for-a-trip way), so this is great
If you live in Japan finding out when a specific mall’s sales are is a good strategy too….just happened to walk in to Hep 5 when it was having a special bargain day and got a shirt at w*c for 1300, when the sale price on the website and at other stores was 1900.
I think you’re always such a good saver! You should blog more about resale, I’m always impressed by your Japan resale gets :D
Agreed! While I was in Osaka with you Murua had a 50% off in store sale for just that OPA :D
Whenever I’m in a shop and have the urge to buy something, I ask myself, “Do you really need those shoes, or would you prefer to have more money for your trip?” Since travelling and having more spending money seems more important, I can manage not to buy the item and walk out of the store…
I will also put your tips into use, as I can always use more help to save money! Thanks!
Definitely!! I really want to travel a bit while I’m in Japan and that won’t happen unless I make some sacrifices D:
I have been saving for my wedding so I have to be careful on what I spend my money. I usually divide my money into my spending money,bills,and savings money. I prefer to wait till something I really like to go on clearance and then get it, insted of get it and then be broke cuz I spent all my money. If it was on clearance and it sold out then meh more money for me. Also, since where I live it’s hard to find clothes that are fashionable and cute, it’s not so hard for me not to spend my money on that.
If only I didn’t love shopping online I’d totally agree XD
your posts are so fun to read, really like this one and the zombie apocalypse one too!
here’s my tip: organize the damn closet! this is for messy girls, or very very neat girls who like to organize and reorganize :D you get to see all the clothes you have and sometimes find something oh-so-similar. need to buy new thing gone. this also gives you time to think it over, do you really need the new thing? if your mind is clear you can make a rational decision but beware of brainwash mode lol, you can make yourself buy any and many things in brainwash mode!
Oh thank you for saying so! I’m trying hard D:
I so agree! I bought new hangers that are slimmer and they are really helping me see my items better not just the bulk
Thanks for all the tips!
Girl I encourage you to shop, your BM collection will become even more awesome :D
I loved this post! The tips are super helpful!
Are gals interested in fitness at all? Do you know any gal brands that do workout clothes? I was trying to find posts related to the topic but weren’t able to find any (from the Doll or from the internet search engines). 
I would really appreciate if you could answer some of these questions or link me to a post where I could find answers. 
This might not be the best place to ask this but have you done any posts about the combination gyaru + working out? Does such a combination even exist?
Many gyaru don’t work out or just walk a lot. Hot yoga is catching on but really starvation and diet pills instead of fitness are sadly more popular.
This is really good this and I’m really glad you made this post. It will help me alot
Thank you
Good luck!
Oh dear lord, You nailed it . All of your tips are really good and will be used ;D
Now I need to stick with them too :D Thanks for liking it :D
As a shopping fanatic, I love the tips. I find, when I get the urge to go shopping, but can’t afford to spend that money, I play various dress-up games or go on http://pupe.ameba.jp/ and shop for things for my poupeegirl. It feels like you’re shopping for yourself! Just not spending any real money ♥♥
Nice tips!
Japan is mostly cash anyway but I say leave the cards at home and only take as much money as you are willing to spend. If you don’t have it right there you can’t spend it!
hey mitzi
i’ve been really trying to “mature” my wardrobe lately. what’s really helped me is going through my closet and getting rid of/donating trendy stuff from past seasons…makes me realize that 5 of those cheap trendy things could’ve gotten me like 1 expensive/classic/quality thing! all about perspective. so when i do go shopping, i keep that in mind. dont guilt myself for splurging a little if its really worth it 
Great post! I do the last one the most, the total price of everything I usually want usually shocks me back to reality and not to mention crazy shipping fees! I might go to Tokyo at the end of April/beginning May, thanks so much for telling us about Silver and Golden week!!! <3