Black Friday
November 21st, 2008. Filed under: Finance & Fitness Fridays.I know why they call it Black Friday. When I used to indulge in all the sales the day after Thanksgiving, I would drag home with bags of bargains and impulse shopping. This was even when I had all my Christmas shopping done and thought I would just pick up a few more things. That led to, “Well, I can’t get this for one kid and not even it up for the other.” And you know that just led to more of the same when I would spot just the perfect thing for someone else on my list. By the time I would get home I was in a black mood. You know the kind when you see a large, dark cloud over a cartoon character’s head. I was dragging the entire cloud burst through the door when I got there.
That was one black mood, but nothing compared to the super black mood when the credit card bills started to arrive. I was miserable for months and continued to pay for all that stuff for most of the year. Sometimes Black Friday would roll around again and I was still paying and adding more so I could share a majorly black mood with my poor family.
I finally learned my lesson, but am still working my way out of debt. It’s easier when you don’t add more on top of what you already have. Debt sucks big time. I’ve discovered the joys of simple, frugal living. I no longer put myself through the torture of Black Friday. There’s nothing I want badly enough to go through that again. I don’t do the after Christmas sales either. If something happens to be left over and marked down on one of my regular shopping trips to the grocery or pharmacy, I’ll look it over and occasionally buy something. Usually, I don’t want it badly enough to bother with it.
That said, do you indulge in Black Friday? If so, check out The Official Black Friday 2008 Website. They manage to get just about all Black Friday ads leaked to them in advance. If you feel as if you need to do this Black Friday thing, then sit down with paper, pen and this website to plot out a course of action.
November 22nd, 2008 at 11:03
one time 2 years ago I went on a black friday to one store for one item!!!
really shocked my family that day LOL My DH couldn’t believe I was going
shopping on a black friday. I didn’t deviate from my one item list. still don’t like shopping, but I do check sales to see if something needed is on sale.
November 22nd, 2008 at 15:32
How nice to meet a fellow life traveler. All the best on your debt-down plan. My mantra is “I have everything I need” and it’s the truth. All that ‘stuff’ is just wants. Sharyn/KalamaQuilts