The year end holidays are literally just around the corner. First up is Thanksgiving, a time to celebrate with loved ones over a good meal and feel gratitude for life itself. Thanksgiving however, is also associated with Black Friday, a day of long lines, jam-packed stores, full parking lots and episodes of disorderly conduct.
If you’re just not up to camping out for hours or being tackled by other shoppers this holiday season, here are three reasons why you should skip the mall and remain in the comfort of your own home.
Avoid Impulse Buys
Buying items during a Thanksgiving Day sale that are not truly serving a valid purpose is a financially unwise move to make, whether you are in debt or not.
Research has proven that for many, shopping leads to more shopping. Black Friday along with Cyber Monday are driven by sales techniques and marketing ploys to convince you, the consumer, that you “need” to buy it now in order to benefit. The rash decision making that results often causes the masses to buy things they don’t need or even want.
Don’t allow fear or anxiety of a product no longer being available to drive you into purchasing unnecessarily. Instead, focus on taking advantage of discounts solely for items that you were already considering purchasing, regardless of whether a deal exists.
Shop From Your Sofa
The main reason why people will camp out in front of stores like Best Buy or Target is in hopes of scoring doorbusters. The problem with doorbusters is that they are available for a very limited time, are in short supply and often are not marquee brand name products. Some companies will not even advertise which products are doorbusters until they open their stores.
Many deals however will be offered before and well beyond the Thanksgiving/Black Friday rush, both in stores and online. The benefits of online shopping include:
- Ability to comparison shop with the click of a mouse
- Benefitting from free shipping on qualifying purchases
- Potentially find inventory online that isn’t available in stores
Another tool to help you land some good deals are shopping apps. With apps such as PriceBlink, PriceGrabber and RetailMeNot, finding the best prices or coupon codes for products you actually want, has become a whole lot easier.
Focus On The Holiday – Not Black Friday
If you are fortunate on Thanksgiving to be scheduled off from work, then you have the opportunity of deciding how you’ll spend that day. Take advantage of the time off to relax, host a family gathering or volunteer at a local shelter, instead of cutting Thanksgiving dinner short and challenging the herds of shoppers in order to check out a few in-store deals.
Many retail employees may choose to work during the Thanksgiving/Black Friday frenzy to generate income, yet I suspect that the majority also struggle with the fact that they are missing out on holiday time with loved ones as a result.
Question your motivation to shop on such an important holiday and you may realize that sharing family time over a nice meal is worth more than a 30% discount on a waffle maker – that you can likely find on another day.
