Coupons, Discounts, and Sales Do Not Mean You Are Saving
- 4 Comment
We all flash that smile when we know that we purchased an item at a bargain price. Saving money never made a customer unhappy. But, just because we caught a deal from coupons, discounts, or sales does not necessarily that we are practicing the sound financial principle of saving.
Deal and Bargain Finding Websites
I’ve discovered that I’ve been frequently visiting sites such as FatWallet.com, BensBargains.net, and Slickdeals.net in search of any deals I may find for things I need. Now, I no longer consider them deal and bargain finding websites because they are shopping websites in actuality. It is a place with products and services presented to potential customers but at great prices. With a constant stream of updated deals, it is easy to get lost in a shopping spree.
“Can’t Miss This Deal” Mentality
Consumers tend to buy stuff they don’t need. It is also common that most of the unnecessary things we buy were purchased at, what we perceive as, a discount price. We were lured into buying many things we didn’t need through coupons and sales. It feels great to have bought something for a cheap price but it is no different than throwing money away if it is useless to you.
Enables Compulsive Spending
Some people tend to allocate the savings on a particular purchase towards another purchase. So, if I saved $20 on this item, I could use it for whatever I’m going to buy next. After continuously applying a previous saving to a future purchase over and over again, I would have a racked up a good amount on my credit card without realizing how fast and easy it was to do so.
Some well-known tips are to:
- Ask yourself: “Do I really need it?”
- Get what you need at a good price and get out.
- Close the browser, computer, or just walk away from it.
Much like my proposed Infomercial Copycat method of debt reduction, coupons, discounts, and sales provide the feeling that you are losing money in tiny amounts so that you don’t see the BIGGER PICTURE – which is: you just spent a lot of money on crap.
(Photo credit: The Consumerist)
Related Posts
4 Comments on this post
Trackbacks
-
ctreit said:
One of the funny things about “getting a deal” is that people think that they save money. “I saved 60 bucks, because I got a $100 item for $40.” As far as I am concerned, nothing was saved, but $40 were spent instead. I think some bargain hunters overlook that little (and only) fact sometimes.
October 23rd, 2009 at 12:40 pm
[...] Coupons, Discounts and Sales Do Not Mean You Are Saving @ Realm of Prosperity: Just because it's on sale doesn't mean you need it. [...]
[...] careful not to overspend because it is understandable how easy it is to go on a shopping spree when you keep finding bargains and deals. I got lost a little bit when I spent $70 on PS3 games but I realized it early enough to let it get [...]
[...] Can’t Stop Them? Then Show Them the Way When I can’t prevent a friend from spending, I advocate smart spending. “I know you want it really bad, but let’s find a good price before you buy it.” Always advise them to take a look around and look for coupons, discounts, and sales. [...]