Cheap Thrills - Where's the sale section?

This is the fourth post of a series on cheap fashion, Cheap Thrills- Where's the Sale Section?  The following posts will continue in showing you how I find good deals-- it's a long read so I split it up over a few posts.  I'll also later detail some of my most triumphant steals.

My favourite part of a store is the sale section.  Sometimes I feel bad for the sales staff, so I browse around half-heartedly in the new arrivals before drifting to my real destination-- the sale section.  It's usually in the back, it's usually messy, and often it's weird stuff no one wants anyways.  

(c) JMGRIFFIN via sxc.hu

I often read about the great deals people get when thrifting, but I feel like I'm never particularly enthused about thrifting myself, and I think this is because I can often get almost as good a deal on new items.  How, you ask?  By learning how to shop sales.  Most of this is trial and error, but here are a few things I've learned.