At Macy’s, my job is on the support team, meaning I put up the sale signs, markdown the merchandise, and pack and ship out the online orders. Because I handle the prices of the merchandise and not the actual merchandise, like a sales associate, I know how to negotiate myself a good price. I’m here to share that knowledge with you.

1. Only shop the sales. Seriously.

Once a month, there’s a thing called a one-day sale. It’s usually actually two days, and goes up on Friday morning and comes down on Sunday morning. The “one-day” part refers to the doorbusters, but sometimes they don’t even have doorbusters so the name becomes pointless. These will always have the best sales relative to the other sales (five-day sales, super Sundays, etc.). If you really, really need something (and need to get it at Macy’s for some reason?) sure get it but if it can wait a month or less, wait for a one day sale and get it for at least 20% off.

2. Shop places like T.J. Maxx & Burlington’s first.

The clothes at discount places like T.J. Maxx are literally just clothes from Macy’s and other higher end department stores that didn’t sell fast enough/well enough. These are jobbed out at Macy’s and then shipped off. Most of it is last season’s clearance, but sometimes there’s stuff that just didn’t get out of the stockroom and suddenly went job out, or stuff that instead of going clearance went straight to job out (these really nice jeans did that yesterday I hope they go to my local discount stores). So to literally shop at Macy’s just for less money, go to the discount stores.

3. Don’t bother with Super Sundays unless you have a card.

Super Sundays are the days after big sales & none of the actual merchandise is on sale, instead they are called Use Your Card events, where you’ll get 10%-20% off (depending on the item) by using your card or a WOW! pass. The WOW! passes come in the flyer, so if you don’t get the newspaper and don’t have a card you’re out of luck on these days.

4. With that being said, don’t shop the day after a big sale.

None of the actual merchandise is on sale, there’s just card events. And nothing gets marked down until the following days so the clearance is all picked over and not even good yet.

5. With that being said, getting a card isn’t a bad idea.

Unless you’re afraid of credit cards like me, often people with cards can get discounts where others wouldn’t just by using their cards (see Super Sundays above). The interest is killer so if you aren’t responsible, avoid a Macy’s card like the plague, but if you know you’re the kind of person who won’t overdo it or forget, go for it there’s no real downside in that case.

6. Online isn’t necessarily cheaper, but also isn’t necessarily more expensive.

Online orders ship directly out from the store, so the packers can see if you spent more/less online versus in store, because we are trained to take the prices off the merchandise before shipping. Sometimes you do pay more, because something went markdown in the store before online, or because the prices weren’t updated fast enough, or there was an in-store coupon, etc. To combat this, make sure to always look for coupon codes before purchasing and if you can, go into a store and look around. I often use the Macy’s app while I’m in store so I can compare online vs in life right there.

PS: Coupon codes are often incentives to get you to buy online and disregard the shipping because they make it appear as though you’re getting a deal, when you’re paying the same or more as you would in store just the lesser cost of the item is replaced by shipping costs. Look out for that in all your online purchasing.

7. Remember you’re shopping with your dollar.

Some brands hike up their prices so that even when they’re clearance everything’s over $20. (I’m convinced Free People does this, also Ralph Lauren Denim & Supply.) My response to this is to not buy any of those brands at all, but the alternate choice is to buy them exclusively on sale. Maybe if we never buy something unless it’s 70% off, they’ll get the idea.

Bonus! 8. Always shop intimates during one day sales!!

There’s always buy one get one 50% off, or 75% off, or for $10 during one day sales. Sometimes the clearance even goes buy one get one free, and once I got two bras for $20, so seriously shop around during one day sales, don’t just hit the stuff you’re usually in for, hit everything.