One regret I hear more than almost any other from people I've worked with goes like this: "I saw an armchair. It was on sale, it looked comfy, and it seemed like a good deal."

Read that again and notice what's missing.

Nobody said they loved it, and nobody said where it was going.

Over the next few weeks, your inbox will fill up with deals like that one.

Last week I talked about building a shortlist before the sales start. This week is about the other half of the job, which is knowing what to ignore.

Bargain, or just cheap?

Kate Watson-Smyth, who writes Mad About The House, wrote about this recently and put it neatly.

A low price only makes something a bargain if you'd want it anyway. "Otherwise," as she puts it, "it's just cheap."

She suggests asking yourself whether you'd still love the piece if it cost ten times as much. I like that question because it takes the discount out of the decision.

If the honest answer is no, the price was doing all the persuading. And once the thing is in your home, the discount is long forgotten, but you're still looking at it every day.

This applies to small things too. A vase or a cushion on sale is easy to justify because it costs so little, but a home full of things you only half like is how rooms end up looking cluttered and random.

If you love it, buy it. If the markdown is the only reason, leave it.

Give it a home before you buy it

For bigger pieces, I'd add one more test: know exactly where it's going, and why you need it.

The irony is that plenty of people answer that with "I'll find a spot for it later."

That's how your home fills up with a hodgepodge of pieces that never quite belong anywhere.

Work the other way around. You're sitting at home and think that corner could use an armchair, so you go and measure it.

Now you know what size armchair would ideally fit, and you have a constraint to shop with. The space sets the brief, and the shopping follows.

Let the empty wall stay empty

Art and decor follow the same rule, with one difference. An empty space should never be the only reason you buy.

If you're tempted to grab a print from Target and the only reason is that the wall looks empty, leave it.

If you love the print, buy it, Target or not. The test is whether you'd still want it if the wall were already full.

If nothing grabs your attention yet, let the thought sit there. Keep an eye out the next time you're somewhere interesting, and wait until you find something you love.

Hanging that on the wall will be far more satisfying than any placeholder.

Everything you buy this way tends to last. You chose it on purpose, so you look after it and keep it longer, which is better for your wallet and better for the planet than settling for the first thing with a red sticker on it.

So when the sale emails start landing, open your shortlist first.

Cheers,
Reynard

P.S. If my Practical Home Design course has been sitting on your own shortlist, hold that thought for two more days. My Black Friday sale starts on Tuesday. Keep an eye on your inbox.