Black Friday: Is Shopping The Solution?
I hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving!
We cooked our first Thanksgiving dinner, well sort of with the help of Bristol Farms. The turkey was already done and all the sides to. We just had to sprinkle marshmallows on top of the candied yams.
It was civilized mayhem in the Beverly Hills supermarket. Later that evening after a good dose of food, we turned on the news to see Black Friday mania sweeping over the U.S.A.
A news reporter interviewed a girl camped outside one of the large department
stores. She’d been there all day on Thanksgiving.
“Do you think you can make more money than working?” he said.
“Yeah! And it’s much more fun. I took a week off of work,” she said.
I watched a video of hundreds of screaming girls waiting late night to buy a pair of Victoria Secret yoga pants that had be discounted to $12.95.
A guy outside Best Buy turned to the people in line behind him and threatened, “If you don’t get back, I’m going to stab you”.
Then a man in San Antonio who jumped the line got punched in the face. He retaliated by pulling a gun and the shoppers quickly scattered to safety. This was just a handful of terrible Black Friday events that occurred.
As I was watching frenzied shoppers, I saw some of the discounts were only 30%. It wasn’t like they were 50 or even 75%. I find it devastating to see people become mean-spirited and violent to get the latest cellphone, turning into animals for a discount which let’s face it isn’t really a discount.
I used to have so much pain inside, I’d numb it by going shopping. I remember counting the minutes for my lunch break so I could hit up the famous Harrods department store in London. It wasn’t far from my office. I spent all the money I’d just earned and then when I wanted something else that I thought would distract me from my true feelings, I stuck the charge on my gold credit card. “Buy now, pay later,” I lied to myself.
The truth was, “Buy now on my credit card, get my parents to pay it off later, they can afford it”.
I was an entitled bitch.
Shopping is fun and I love beautiful things but I’ve learned to make sure that when I buy something, it’s not coming from a place of emotional pain.
Here are some questions to see if you are an emotional shopper:
- Do you shop when you feel depressed?
- Are you an impulse shopper?
- Are you a bargain shopper?
- Do you always buy what’s on sale?
- Do you buy something you don’t like that much because it has a big discount?
- Do you use shopping as retail therapy?
- Do you feel like you won’t be happy until you get the thing that you want? Then when you get it, the novelty quickly wears off?
Emotional Shopping Checklist
- Do not shop if you are in a bad mood.
- Do not shop if you are feeling depressed. Instead go window shopping without your credit cards.
- Do shop when you’ve been planning for the item. That way, you go into the store, fully conscious and happy. You won’t get struck with anxiety or sticker shock later on.
If someone pressures you and tells you, “It’s the last one in stock,” or, “This offer won’t be available later”.
Say, “Thank you for letting me know”. If you don’t love the item or offer, leave the store and get on with your day.
If you are still thinking about the offer 24 hours later, go back and get it. The difference is, you won’t be buying out of guilt. You’ll be getting the thing you want out of true desire and appreciation.
You deserve good in your life.
Love,
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