Why sales don't save you money
-
Trent Hamm Guest blogger
Every week, I get several flyers in the mail advertising sales at local department stores, specialty stores, and other businesses.
I leaf through them on occasion and sometimes I do see something that鈥檚 got a pretty impressive price on it, something I know is about half of what it would normally cost.
Extreme couponers like to call items like that 鈥渓oss leaders.鈥� I just see a big discount.
Does this cause me to hop in the vehicle and head to the store? Not really.
Does this cause me to make an immediate addition to my shopping list? Nope, guess again.
Unless it just so happens to be something I鈥檓 already shopping for or something I鈥檓 dead certain I can immediately re-sell at a profit, all it does is cause me to turn the page.
The reality of the matter is that聽big sales really don鈥檛 save you money if you鈥檙e buying things that you don鈥檛 need and wouldn鈥檛 buy anyway.聽You鈥檙e just spending your hard-earned cash on stuff that you wouldn鈥檛 buy if it wasn鈥檛 a big 鈥渂argain.鈥�
If it鈥檚 an item you wouldn鈥檛 consider having in your home with a $100 price tag on it, why does that perspective suddenly change if that price tag is reduced to $80.聽It鈥檚 still the same item that you don鈥檛 really want and you definitely don鈥檛 need.
It doesn鈥檛 matter what the price of the item is.聽There are only two reasons you should buy an item: you need it (or want it and it鈥檚 a planned splurge) or you can directly re-sell the item for a profit.
Sure, sometimes a sale will actually fulfill one of those things. I often use loss leaders at the grocery store as part of my planning for the week because food is something my family needs. Once in a while, I鈥檒l see a sale on something that was already on a shopping list or a gift planning list 鈥� if that happens, it鈥檚 a cause worth celebrating. On occasion, I鈥檒l use a strong loss leader to stock up on a perishable item that my family uses quite a lot of, like toothpaste.
Aside from that,聽flyers and sales just entice me to buy stuff that I don鈥檛 need.
I鈥檓 smarter than that about my money.聽Sales are just another way for companies to lift money out of my pockets; they鈥檙e just using the idea of a 鈥渂argain鈥� to do it this time around.
It鈥檚 not a bargain if you didn鈥檛 want it or need it before you saw the sale sticker.
The post聽聽appeared first on聽.
