A Sales-aholic Says "No" to Black Friday and Seasonal Sales

Most of the time I’m a frugal shopper—I pay attention to what I spend and I try not to overspend, especially with this current economic crisis.

But whenever I'm confronted with the word "sale" or "promotion" all self-control goes out the window.  It’s like a light goes off in my head and a voice screams, Wow! YOU BETTER SNATCH UP THIS BARGAIN! Or, Hey, why don't you STOCK UP?  Who knows when another special like this will come along?

I come from a long line of bargain shoppers.  My earliest memories are of me tagging along with my grandmother and mother scouring the clearance racks at outlet malls and discount stores such as Ross and Marshalls.  I’ve definitely inherited this bargain shopping gene.

And it's usually me who is spreading the word to my family and friends on all the latest internet sales and promotions.  Whenever Lands End offers a free shipping or discount, people know they can count on me to remember the promotion code. 

Likewise, for the black Monday ads.  Every year I’m eagerly scouring Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales way in advance.  The morning after Thanksgiving I’m out the door at the crack of dawn hitting Target and other discount stores loading up on Christmas gifts. 

What I've come to realize though is that just because something is on sale doesn’t always necessarily mean you are saving, at least in my case.  What I find usually happens is that at the end of the day I spend more, not less.  For instance, last year during my Black Friday Target run I loaded up on a bunch of extra toys (those $3 games and DVDs were just too tempting to pass up).  I thought perhaps I could use these for future birthday or seasonal gifts for friends and family.  Trouble was, most kids we knew already owned Candy Land or Shark Tales (just last month I finally gave away my remaining Shrek II DVD to my mother to use as a spare at her house ). That same year during Black Friday I also bought stocking stuffers for the kids, but guess what?  I hide them back in my closet and forgot about them and thus I ended buying another batch of goodies for the stockings.  By the time Christmas Eve rolled around I had double the stuff.

Sales buying just encourages me to over-spend and buy MORE stuff.  Extra stuff I just don’t need.

So, this year I’m sleeping in.  With our current financial disaster I just don’t need to be tempted.  Plus, analysts suggest that the economy is so rotten that retailers will be rolling out sales and promotions every day this season as reported recently in USA Today. I also recently stumbled across this article that addresses buying behavior during a recession. It claims that people will continue buying in a bad economy, particularly women so long as some discount or special promotion is offered.

So it looks like a sure bet we will be flooded with all kinds of drastic clearance sales this season, probably some of the greatest sales we've seen in years, if not decades.  The irony is that this sales guru won't be able to take full advantage of them.

And it's usually me who is spreading the word to my family and friends on all the latest internet sales and promotions.  Whenever Lands End offers a free shipping or discount, people know they can count on me to remember the promotion code. 

Likewise, for the black Monday ads.  Every year usually I’m eagerly scouring Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales way in advance.  The morning after Thanksgiving I’m out the door at the crack of dawn hitting Target and other discount stores loading up on Christmas gifts. 

What I've come to realize though is that just because something is on sale doesn’t always necessarily mean you are saving, at least in my case.  What I find usually happens is that at the end of the day I spend more, not less.  For instance, last year during my Black Friday Target run I loaded up on a bunch of extra toys (those $3 games and DVDs were just too tempting to pass up).  I thought perhaps I could use these for birthday or seasonal gifts for friends and family.  Trouble was, most kids we knew already owned Candy Land or Shark Tales (just last month I finally gave away my remaining Shrek II DVD to my mother to use as a spare at her house ). That same year during Black Friday I also bought stocking stuffers for the kids, but guess what?  I hide them back in my closet and forgot about them and thus I ended buying another batch of goodies for the stockings.  By the time Christmas Eve rolled around I had double the stuff.

Sales buying just encourages me to over-spend and buy MORE stuff.  Extra stuff I just don’t need.

So, this year I’m sleeping in.  With our current financial disaster I just don’t need to be tempted.  Plus, analysts suggest that the economy is so rotten that retailers will be rolling out sales and promotions every day this season as reported recently in USA Today. I also recently stumbled across this article that addresses buying behavior during a recession. It claims that people will continue buying in a bad economy, particularly women so long as some discount or special promotion is offered.

So it looks like a sure bet we will be flooded with all kinds of drastic clearance sales this season, probably some of the greatest sales we've seen in years if not decades.  The irony is that this sales guru won't be able to take full advantage of them.