Two weeks before desperate shoppers huddle outside of stores in anticipation of “Black Friday” deals, I was in line outside of H&M at 7am, two hours before the store opened its doors. I never imagined myself being in one of those lines, waiting and preparing to fight through a mob of people for clothes. Clothes!

I’m not one to buy brand names. In fact, the only designer clothing I own is a Diane Von Furstenberg sweater from a sample sale and a Vivienne Westwood T-shirt that was a gift. Don’t get me wrong, there are designers I do respect and adore, but it’s another thing to spend $1140 on a bag. Which is why I’ve finally come to understand why people sacrifice sleep and swallow their pride to get their hands on exclusive designer collections: you can almost afford designer gear if you are willing to suffer.

If waking up two hours early can get me a shirt by one of my favorite designers for a quarter of the price (what would usually be out of reach at $250), I’m there. My heart stopped when I heard Rei Kawakubo had created a line of Comme des Garçons for H&M. I was ready to cross over to the other side – I had become one of those crazed shoppers. I am a girl after all!

What is it about exclusivity that gets our adrenaline pumping? If this wasn’t a limited-edition-only-sold-in-8-stores-in-the-country collection, would it have had the same appeal? Surely the affordability, which will never be found again with CDG, was what drew in many shoppers like myself but are the seemingly low prices really all that low? Since these shoppers have no time to think twice about what they’re buying, are they inhibited from making rational decisions?

A $50 shirt is cheaper than a $250 shirt but if you end up buying four of them when you really only needed one, you haven’t really saved any money. The danger in these exclusive/limited collections is that we convince ourselves that it is a chance of a lifetime to shop at these prices, but as a result, we spend more than we normally would as a result of this illusion. Also, beware of eBay; it makes people do bad things, and limited collections allow sellers to jack up prices with buyers paying ridiculous prices far higher than the retail price.

I don’t think it’s fair to say that exclusive collections are all bad since the mass market is given a chance at grabbing luxury labels at a reasonable price. The same concept also goes for sample sales. Sample sales are great places to find designer brands for a fraction of the original price. That said, great deals are always around and since paying retail is rarely necessary, the final piece of advice that should be followed even when shopping for groceries is: make and stick to a list and never go to stores you don’t need to go to.

There are sample sales practically every day (check out Daily Candy or Best Bets if you don’t believe me), so don’t let the promise of an insane “bargain” blind you. Think logically, you can’t possibly go to all of them and they’ll have another one, and another one. Plus, if you’ve never heard of Steve Alan, it shouldn’t matter to you if his shirts are 75% off.

I admit that I spent more than I intended to, partly because it was my first time at one of these events and partly because I didn’t have a list that I swore to. I did promise myself though, that I won’t fall into anymore shopping traps (unless it’s designed by Yohji Yamamoto), especially with the allure of holiday deals that are about to go into full bloom. It’s impossible to not shop, but it is possible to plan, budget, and prioritize! Knowing what you want is different from being tricked into thinking you want it; I knew I wanted Comme des Garcons but I was tricked into thinking I needed everything.