Oh, holiday shopping. How we say every year we’ll do better, and how we fail by buying everything at a markup, last minute, totally not in our plans.
But we spend SO much money. Last year Americans spent over 600 billion dollars on Black Friday shopping. Now, as some of us might now, those deals are not that great of a deal after all. Retailers have engineered a very careful and quite convincing mind game to convince us that their sale is worth it. Because of competition, companies have purposely inflated the initial item pricing and then, during a sale, actually selling it to you at its actual price (with major profit for the retailer). If you have been keeping up with the advertisements, you might have seen some businesses have “extended” their sales and…that is not good for my wallet.
Here are some of my personal strategies to get through this difficult time:
- Make a list of things you want to buy. Think in advance, as this is one of the ways you’ll be able to spot prices being inflated beforehand. Also, this may help you curb those all-too-common impulse buys.
- Look to shop online. Going in person to stores and making huge lines, dealing with rude folks, and having stores run out of stock rapidly is a thing of the past. Spend time with your family instead, and watch the chaos from afar.
- Wait. Yes, wait. In my experience, the amount of sales happening in January are infinitely better than the Thanksgiving-Christmas rush.
Happy (smart) shopping!
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