I can't remember when it started precisely... but I remember, one year having a friend told me that we were following into the "great foot steps of the USA" and we were starting to have a Black Friday!!! And she was very exited about it... after she explained to me what it was, so was I. I was a VERY different person back then. I can't even recognize myself.
This seems a million years ago...
She is no longer a friend. And I am no longer exited about Black Friday. Those are probably related...
So for a few years, I enjoyed Black Friday. I thought it was an amazing idea to have all those sales a month before Christmas... look at all the money I could save!!! And that way, I could beat the crowd and do all my shopping before the malls got really busy!!!
Silly me...
Back then, I am not sure about now, or if every where is the same... but most sales were for grown up stuff and we had 3 young kids... 10 and under... so Black Friday was used to buy gifts for grown ups and mostly my husband and I... as I was a shopaholic, I spend way too much money... that I had not budgeted for... and I still had to buy gifts for 3 kids!!! And sometimes more depending on nieces and nephews... I actually never did save money on Black Friday - I spend too much. Way too much. Like most people do.
A few weeks later, I would go back to the mall (who am I kidding? those days, I was at the mall pretty much every day!!! - do not judge, this is a REAL addiction unfortunately), and buy stuff for the kids and of course more stuff for me... If I want to not look to bad, I could say that between my birthday on November 19th and Christmas, I would easily spend 1000$... If I am being more realistic, it was probably way closer to 2000$!
And guess what? All the stuff that was on sale on Black Friday was still on sale pretty much until Christmas, then for boxing day and as end of season sale till the end of February! Right?
But it took me a while to see that... I didn't want to see it... I needed shopping... I had this addiction... I had to work it out, find the roots of it and heal... I can now proudly say that as off a couple of years ago my addiction is under control. Of course once an addict always an addict but I try and keep it in the back of my closet (which is now much more empty)... I gave myself tricks and tools... but this is not the subject of this post...
So today, Black Friday, which has turned into a week and then pre-Black Friday sales and Black Friday month for some store... just like Boxing day is now Boxing week... I stay away from stores... and this No Spend November is of great help! I think No Spend November will be an annual thing from now on...
I understand that in some instances, it can be smart to get something on that day, or week, or pre-day! Hahaha! But if, and only if, you absolutely need ( an actual real need) for an item that you know the actual regular price and is it really greatly discounted and you have the money for it... If all those conditions are there, go for it! But don't fall into the idiots trap that you need something and the this is a once in a lifetime offer... because you probably do not really need it and the price is probably not a once in a lifetime offer!
See, companies and stores, spend billions of dollars each year to convince us that we need stuff, more stuff, new stuff, prettier stuff, unique stuff, never before seen stuff... and it works! Of course it does... and don't think you are above it! No one is. Some are as close as it gets because they became aware of the trap and opted out of it but it's a constant fight. Trust me. Marketing companies have teams of specialists to insure they play with your brains in all the right ways (Have you ever seen an add where people are fat, ugly, poor, unhappy, sick, miserable???). If it didn't work, our economic system would collapse... and if you ask me, we'd be better off for so many reasons, but I bet most people would disagree.
So those billions of dollars are spend to convince you to buy stuff you do not need, with money you do not really have, to impress people you do not really like... and it works. Over and over again.
If you want to break free of that cycle, here's one of my trick...
Thoreau said that "the price of anything is the amount of life exchanged for it".
And that makes SO. MUCH. SENSE.
For example, let's say you really want that sweater that is half priced at 60$, and you earn 18$ an hour (gross), after all the deductions, you net hourly wage is 14.40$. This means your sweater cost you just about 4h of work... is it really worth it??? If you start doing this for everything you buy, it does put things into perspective... it allows you to prioritize where you wish to spend your money and it you really do the math and can actually decrease your spending enough, perhaps you could do something else with that money... travel, work part time, take a sabbatical in a few years or maybe even retire early...
Get down to your calculator guys! Do the math. Prioritize. And you'll have the life YOU always dreamed off.
Stay away from Black Friday. Please.
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Chloe 💜&✌
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