I’ve always thought of Macy’s as more than just a department store. For me, it’s a landmark of memories. I can still feel the plush carpeting under my feet from when my mother took me to the flagship store in Herald Square as a little girl, my eyes wide with wonder. I bought my first “real” interview suit there, the one that made me feel like I could conquer the world. My husband, Robert, and I registered for our wedding china at Macy’s, and we’d return every year to buy a new ornament for our Christmas tree.
Macy’s was a constant, a place of quality and tradition. A place I felt I belonged.
Then, about five years ago, things changed. Robert retired from his teaching job, and we transitioned to a fixed income. It wasn’t a tragedy by any means; it was a planned and welcome new chapter. But it required a new kind of mindfulness about our spending. The days of casually walking into Macy’s and buying a designer handbag just because it caught my eye were, quite suddenly, over. The shift felt abrupt, and honestly, a little deflating.
The moment it really hit me was on a crisp afternoon in October. I was wandering through the coat department, my fingers grazing the soft wool of a beautiful, deep blue Ralph Lauren peacoat. It was perfect. Classic, elegant, and warm. I pictured myself wearing it on walks through the park, meeting friends for lunch. Then I glanced at the price tag. My heart sank. It wasn’t an astronomical price, but it was far more than our new budget could justify for a non-essential item. I felt a pang of loss that was surprisingly sharp. It wasn’t just about the coat. It felt like I was losing a part of myself, a part that appreciated quality and timeless style.
I walked out of the store that day feeling discouraged. I told myself it was silly to be upset over a coat, but the feeling lingered. Was this my new reality? Giving up the little luxuries and the quality brands I had trusted for decades? I refused to accept that. I decided then and there that I wouldn’t give up on Macy’s. I just had to learn to dance to a different tune. I had to learn its rhythm, its secrets. I was going to turn saving money at my favorite store into a personal mission.
My Clumsy First Steps into Department Store Deals
My initial forays into becoming a “savvy shopper” were, to put it mildly, a complete mess. I thought being smart just meant looking for a red sign that said “SALE.” I soon learned there are sales, and then there are real sales. My first big mistake taught me that lesson the hard way.
I saw a lovely cashmere-blend sweater from Charter Club, one of Macy’s own brands that I’ve always found to be of great quality. It was marked down 20%. “Aha!” I thought, “I’m doing it!” I proudly bought the sweater, feeling quite pleased with my 20% savings. I even used a $10 Star Rewards coupon I had, making me feel extra clever.
Two weeks later, I was back at the store to return a gift for my grandson, and I walked past the same sweater display. My heart dropped into my stomach. The entire rack was now marked “40% OFF.” On top of that, a sign proclaimed an additional 15% off with a Macy’s card. My “deal” suddenly felt like a fool’s errand. I had been impatient. I had been played by the most basic of retail strategies. I felt a flush of embarrassment, even though no one else knew. I knew.
I realized I wasn’t just fighting the price tag; I was fighting a system designed to encourage impulse buys. My approach was all wrong. I was being reactive, pouncing on the first discount I saw. I needed to be proactive. I needed a plan. I needed to understand the why and when behind the markdowns.
The Beginning of My Macy’s Markdown Calendar
The turning point came from an unexpected source. I was in the home goods section one Tuesday morning, looking at towels. A sales associate, a kind woman named Brenda who looked to be about my age, was tidying up a display. I commented on how I was waiting for the next big linen sale.
She smiled knowingly. “Oh, honey, you just missed a good one, but the big one is always in January. After the holidays, everyone wants to refresh their home. We always do a huge White Sale then, and again in July.”
It was a simple comment, but it was a lightbulb moment for me. Of course. The sales weren’t random. They were tied to seasons, holidays, and customer behavior. It was a calendar, and I just didn’t have a copy.
That evening, I sat down at my kitchen table with a plain spiral notebook and a pen. I labeled it “The Macy’s Project.” It felt a little silly, but it also felt empowering. My first entry was: “Brenda’s Tip: Big Linen White Sales in January and July.”
From then on, I became a retail detective. I paid attention to every flyer that came in the mail. I signed up for Macy’s emails—not to be tempted, but for reconnaissance. I started to see the patterns emerge, and I jotted them all down in my notebook.
- Holiday Weekends are Key: This was the most obvious pattern. Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and Labor Day were always attached to significant sales, usually 20-50% off in many departments. Black Friday was, of course, the king of them all, but I learned it was often a chaotic circus with specific “doorbuster” deals that weren’t always what I was looking for. The slightly smaller holiday sales were my sweet spot for more relaxed shopping.
- The “One-Day Sale” Secret: I quickly deciphered that Macy’s famous “One-Day Sale” is almost always a two-day event, typically a Friday and Saturday. The “preview” day is often on Thursday. This knowledge was powerful. It meant I could shop before the weekend rush and still get the best prices.
- Seasonal Shifts: This was common sense, but I had never applied it strategically. I noted in my book: “Buy winter coats in late January/February. Buy swimsuits in August/September.” The stores needed to clear out old inventory to make room for the new, and my patience would be rewarded with deep, deep discounts. That blue peacoat I had mourned? I promised myself I’d look for its equivalent when the time was right.
My little notebook started to fill up. It wasn’t just a list of dates; it was my personal playbook. I was no longer a passive customer; I was an informed strategist. The game was starting to get fun.
Discovering the Holy Grail: Shopping Macy’s Friends & Family Sale
After a few months of tracking sales, I felt my confidence growing. I was successfully timing my purchases with the holiday weekends and seasonal clearances. But my biggest breakthrough was yet to come. It arrived in my email inbox with the subject line: “It’s Here! Your Friends & Family Coupon.”
I had seen these emails before and usually deleted them, assuming they were just another marketing gimmick. But this time, armed with my new detective mindset, I opened it. My eyes widened as I read the details. An extra 30% off almost everything, including many designer brands and even cosmetics and fragrances that were almost never part of regular sales. This wasn’t just another sale. This was different.
I checked my notebook. There was no mention of it. This was a new piece of the puzzle. I learned that the Macy’s Friends & Family sale happens a few times a year, typically in the spring (around April/May) and again in the late fall/early winter (just before the big holiday rush, around November/December). It was the store’s way of rewarding loyal customers before the major seasonal pushes.
My first Friends & Family shopping trip felt like I had a secret key to the entire store. I had my eye on a new set of Cuisinart cookware. Robert and I love to cook together, and our old set was scratched and tired. The set I wanted was already part of a home sale, marked down by 20%. The Friends & Family coupon gave me an additional 30% off the sale price. I remember doing the math on my phone right there in the aisle, my heart thumping with excitement. The final price was less than half the original sticker price.
I felt a wave of pure victory. This was the opposite of how I felt after buying that sweater. This was smart. This was intentional. I had waited, watched, and timed my purchase perfectly. I wasn’t just saving money; I was getting incredible value for our hard-earned retirement funds. That day, I walked out of Macy’s with my shiny new cookware, feeling not deprived, but triumphant.
The Friends & Family sale became the cornerstone of my strategy for big-ticket items. If I needed a new appliance, a high-quality handbag, or expensive gifts, I’d add them to my list and wait patiently for that magic email to arrive. It taught me the most valuable lesson in smart shopping: patience is the ultimate coupon.
My Adventures in Clearance: Tips for Finding the Real Treasures at Macy’s
With my calendar and Friends & Family strategy in place, I felt like I had a handle on the planned sales. But I soon discovered another, more thrilling layer to the Macy’s savings game: the clearance rack. This wasn’t about planning; this was about hunting. And I learned to love the hunt.
At first, the clearance sections felt chaotic and overwhelming. Racks crammed with a jumble of sizes and styles. But I started to notice a method to the madness. The real gold, I discovered, was in the sections labeled “Last Act.”
These aren’t just regular clearance items. “Last Act” is the final stop for merchandise before it leaves the store for good. The prices are rock-bottom, often 60-80% off the original price. The downside is that all sales are final. This meant I had to be absolutely sure about a purchase. No returns. This rule forced me to be even more discerning and thoughtful.
I developed a routine. I learned that the best time to browse the Last Act racks was on a weekday morning, especially a Tuesday or Wednesday. The stores are quieter, and the racks have often been restocked and organized after the weekend chaos. I’d grab a coffee and make a beeline for the back of my favorite departments.
My clearance tips aren’t complicated, they’re just habits I’ve formed from experience:
- Go Straight to the Back: The Last Act racks are almost always tucked away in the very back corners of a department. Don’t get distracted by the shiny new arrivals at the front.
- Know Your Colors: I learned from another friendly associate that Macy’s sometimes uses a color-coded price tag system for markdowns. A yellow tag might be the final markdown, for example. While this can change, I always pay attention to the tags themselves, not just the red line drawn through the price. The final price is usually on a bright-colored sticker.
- Scan for Quality, Not Just Brands: While it’s exciting to find a designer name, I trained my eye to look for signs of quality first: good fabric, solid stitching, classic cuts. I once found a beautiful, no-name wool-blend scarf for $4 that has become one of my winter staples.
- Inspect Every Item Carefully: Since these are final sale, I check every item like a hawk. I look for missing buttons, small stains, or snags. Sometimes a tiny, fixable flaw is why an item is there, and it means an even better bargain for me if I’m willing to sew on a button.
My greatest Last Act triumph happened last spring. My granddaughter, Lily, was in a school play and needed a “fancy party dress.” We went to Macy’s, and I guided her away from the glittering new arrivals and straight to the girls’ Last Act rack. Tucked between two very ordinary-looking dresses was a deep purple velvet dress from a well-known, and very expensive, children’s brand. It was her size. It was flawless. The original price was over $80. The Last Act price? $12.99.
The look on Lily’s face when she tried it on was worth more than any amount of money. She twirled in front of the mirror, her face alight with joy. In that moment, I felt an immense sense of satisfaction. I hadn’t just saved money. I had provided something beautiful for my granddaughter without an ounce of financial stress. I had used my knowledge to create a moment of pure happiness. That, I realized, was the real treasure.
The Final Piece of the Puzzle: Stacking Coupons and Star Rewards
By this point, I felt like I had a Ph.D. in Macy’s-ology. I understood the sale calendar and had mastered the art of the clearance hunt. The final step was learning how to combine all my knowledge with the store’s loyalty program: Macy’s Star Rewards.
Initially, I was hesitant to get a Macy’s credit card. Robert and I are very careful about credit, and the idea of opening a new line just for one store felt risky. But I did my research and decided to approach it with discipline. I would use the card for the exclusive discounts but treat it like a debit card, paying off the balance in full the very same day or week from my checking account. For me, the benefits outweighed the risk as long as I was disciplined.
Holding the card gave me access to exclusive cardholder-only savings, which could often be stacked on top of other sales. But the real power came from the combination of sales, coupons, and earning Macy’s Money.
Macy’s Money is a rewards program where during certain promotional periods, you earn a “coupon” for a future purchase based on how much you spend. For example, spend $50, get $10 in Macy’s Money. My strategy became to make my necessary, planned purchases during these earning periods. Then, I would come back and spend my “free” Macy’s Money on something I wanted but didn’t necessarily need.
My ultimate “stacking” masterpiece involved that blue peacoat—or one very much like it. The next February, I saw a similar Ralph Lauren coat go on a major end-of-season clearance. It was already 50% off. It was a holiday weekend, so there was a coupon for an additional 20% off sale and clearance items. I used my Macy’s card for another 15% discount. And to top it all off, I had $20 in Macy’s Money I had earned from buying Christmas gifts a few months prior.
I stood at the register and watched the cashier scan everything. The price kept dropping, and dropping, and dropping. The original price was close to $300. When all was said and done, I paid just over $60 for it. Sixty dollars for a coat I would wear for the next decade.
I walked out of the store holding that coat, and I felt a profound sense of accomplishment. I thought back to that day over a year before when I had walked out feeling so defeated. The journey between those two moments wasn’t just about learning to find department store deals. It was about taking control.
More Than a Discount: The Lessons I Learned
It’s been five years since I started my “Macy’s Project.” My spiral notebook is now filled with notes, dates, and little stories of my best finds. But looking back, I realize I learned so much more than just how to find a good bargain.
This journey taught me to be patient in a world that thrives on instant gratification. It taught me to be observant and to look for patterns where others see chaos. It transformed shopping from a passive act of consumption into an engaging, strategic game that I could win.
Most importantly, it was an incredibly empowering experience. When our income changed, I worried that our life would have to become smaller, that we would have to give up the quality we appreciated. My little project proved me wrong. It showed me that with a little bit of effort and a lot of strategy, I could maintain our lifestyle, continue to buy beautiful, long-lasting things, and gift generously to the people I love—all while respecting our budget completely.
I no longer walk into Macy’s with a sense of anxiety or loss. I walk in with confidence, with a plan, and with the thrill of the hunt in my heart. I know its rhythm, its sales cycles, and its secrets. It’s still my Macy’s, a place of memories and tradition. But now, it’s also a place where I feel smart, capable, and completely in control.
You don’t have to give up the things that bring you joy when your circumstances change. You just have to be willing to learn the dance. And I can tell you from personal experience, learning the steps is the most rewarding part of all.
