When the fall shopping season started, I read the articles that said shoppers shouldn’t expect the same deep discounts they found last year. I thought that was good, last year was excessive. Many retailers went out of business because of the steep markdowns. I felt guilty at some of the prices I paid.

But I also don’t want to be the one poor sap that pays full price when waiting a couple of weeks would get me the item I love at 30% cheaper.

Now we are approaching the sale season. Stores are starting, or getting ready to start, their fall markdowns – many have already been doing “special” promotions here and there. But inventories are running thin. I know in my store, we are out of a few of the season’s most coveted pieces.

Then a hard lesson for myself – the one item that I had my heart set on for the season was a pair of Stuart Weitzman 50/50 over-the-knee boots. These boots are at Zappos, Shopbop, Nordstrom’s, Bloomingdales, etc. The problem for me is that every store is sold out of my size. Yes, if I were a size 5 ½ I could still get those lovelies. But as it stands now, I’m out of luck because I didn’t want to be the one that paid full price unnecessarily. My fault, I know. They were the subject of so much attention, I should have known better.

The truth in retail is that fashion pieces are bought early. Those of us that want the best items are going to have to pay full price. So if there is something that you love, you want, but you are waiting for it to go on sale, know that you risk losing it. There is a price for getting exactly what we want – and sometimes it’s full.

So maybe retail is on the comeback after all and that is worth losing my boots over.