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Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio.
Good morning.
This is Laura.
Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Today's tip is to figure out ways to shop more mindfully.
A sale doesn't save you money if you buy more than you intend.
Fortunately, there are ways to keep calm and figure out what will bring the most joy to and everyone else.
This episode is first airing right around what we often call Black Friday, the start of the holiday shopping season.
While there are fewer in-person doorbuster sales these days than in the past, many retailers still offer deep discounts around Thanksgiving.
Often these discounts are pitched as being for a limited time only.
The idea is to nudge people to buy and buy a lot because they fear the sale will disappear.
And maybe it will.
But so what?
If you are buying something you didn't truly want or need, then a sale isn't saving anyone money.
It is still just extra money out the door.
But I do think there are a few ways to turn down the temperature.
One is to construct a gift list before you start looking at the sales.
What do you want for the holidays?
What do you want to give to other people?
Ask them what they want.
I am guessing that with a little detective work, most of us could figure out at least 75 of our holiday gift lists before Thanksgiving, if we wanted.
This leaves space for extra stuff or last minute requests, but means most things are thought of.
Then you can go into the holiday sales armed with this list.
If someone asks for a fancy pair of headphones and you see a 40 off sale on those headphones, then you know that this is a money-saving sale for you.
There's a chance.
You would have bought the headphones at full price and now you are getting them for 40 less than you would have had to pay.
Excellent.
But you will be less tempted by a 50 off sale on something the person did not ask for.
You know what they want.
And so you can do your shopping more calmly.
Now obviously, sometimes we discover what we want or what we want to get people while we are shopping.
You come across something exciting and you want to get it for someone or, let's be honest, you want to get it for yourself.
It turns out that a lot of Black Friday shopping is actually people shopping for themselves.
But if that is the case... then you might try giving yourself a short waiting period.
It doesn't have to be 72 hours.
I do understand that these sales are limited, but even a 12 hour waiting period could be helpful.
In a lot of cases, the online sale will not disappear in 12 hours.
If you are shopping at 5 pm, maybe decide that you will purchase something when you wake up the next morning.
If you still want it then, so it goes.
If you don't, or maybe something new has come up, then fine.
Now you know.
Sometimes, if you think ahead, you can put an even bigger distance between yourself and something.
I had my eye on a pair of boots last fall that were kind of pricey.
It was challenging to find my size, so I was having to look at secondary sellers.
So I just put on my calendar... for this year to look for those boots back when boot season started.
I saw the entry on my calendar this fall and looked them up from that particular retailer.
And guess what?
I no longer had any desire for the boots.
So there we go.
It is fun to buy things, but it is less fun to feel like we bought more than we wanted.
Making a list beforehand is and then shopping sales can make those sales actually feel like sales.
And waiting a little bit for everything else can make those purchases more mindful too.
When we spend wisely, there is more money to spend on things that will bring us joy.
And I want that for everyone this holiday season.
In the meantime, this is Laura saying, Thanks for listening.
And here's to making the most of our time.
Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.
If you've got questions, ideas or feedback, you can reach me at laura at lauravandercam.com.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeart Media.
For more podcasts from iHeart Media, please visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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And I'm Hari Kundabolu.
On our new podcast, Health Stuff, we demystify your burning health questions.
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Find Health Stuff on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
I'm Robert Smith, and this is Jacob Goldstein, and we used to host a show called Planet Money.
And now we're back making this new podcast called business history about the best ideas and people and businesses in history and some of the worst people, horrible ideas and destructive companies in the history of business.
First episode how southwest airlines use cheap seats and free whiskey to fight its way into the airlines the most texas story ever.
Listen to business history on the iheart radio app, apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
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