Shopping season starts now

We are in that time of the year again, the official start of the shopping season is today, Black Friday.

Shopping season officially starts with Black Friday and then come the rest of the dedicated celebratory days of consumerism such as Cyber Monday, Christmas shopping deals, after Christmas Sales deals and so on.

Few question remain, how to navigate in the cascade of these sales? Do they have deals worth buying? Should we browse the online sites? What are the pros and cons? Can minimalists participate?

So let’s break down the things first by stating the most important anecdote I have aboard;

If something is discounted from $100 to $80, you didn’t save $20, you spent $80.

So what does that even mean? Well, it means that if you didn’t meant to buy the item in the first place but the marketers succeeded because you bought the item just because it was on sales, then you didn’t save any money, you just spent money on something you didn’t intended to.

I would personally recommend to have a plan, if you have a plan and you know exactly what do you want to purchase be it clothing, kitchen items, gifts for relatives, experiences and you intended to pursue these purchases regardless of sales or not, I would definitely look out for these events if you are not time bounded, but just for those items I planned, referring here on my previous article.

I am not trying to imply that these events are terrible, but most of the times the deals are not worth pursuing or not even discounted compared to previous months’ prices. The reason I am skeptical about these events are because I know how the marketing dynamics of companies are working and how marketers are luring into shopping the unprepared people (most of us) into spending their money for something they did not meant to buy in normal circumstances.

Personally I am not participating this year as I planned and executed my purchases for the year already and had a clear idea about the presents I will pass on to my loved ones.

For you, I would encourage you to really put on a scale these deals and think about if you really need this item, is it a good deal, do you really want to purchase this item or just came across it because it was displayed on the prime part of the online shop or was placed carefully under a sales 30% off sign?

You managed to be just alright without this item, so I am sure life can keep on going without this item also, keep this in mind.

The festives are here and make sure you have a plan, should you need one.

Yours sincerely

To/Minimal