Monday, November 29, 2010

Black Friday - Why I Do It

A lot of people blast Black Friday for it's encouragement of consumerism and debt.  A lot of which, unfortunately, is true.  There are many people out there who use Black Friday as an excuse to spend all kinds of money they might not otherwise because "it's such a good price!"  It is that mindset that helped send us into this economic downturn, because everyone started spending more than they could ever pay back in mortgages, credit card debt, etc.  And the banks didn't help by approving loans that counted overtime as regular income, loans that had ARMs so ridiculous, no one would be able to pay it back and to people who didn't have very good credit to begin with.

However, there are other people, like me, who go Black Friday shopping because there are things that we need to get that we had been putting off because we didn't want to spend the money to pay full price.  I have been wearing the same boots since my freshman year of high school - nine years ago.  My jeans were too big (yay weight loss!) so I needed a new pair or two.  Now, I'm not saying I didn't splurge a little more than I normally would, but buying one sweater on final clearance or three pairs of underwear that would normally been $14 each (that were only $4 Friday morning) isn't breaking the bank.

There is a fine line that needs to be walked when it comes to going shopping on Black Friday.  It's a good time to get something that you have been putting off getting because you don't want to buy something full price.  It's not a good reason to spend so much money that you are still trying to pay off the debt from last year's excursions on Black Friday while planning your excursion for this year. 

So, I go Black Friday shopping for need, not want.  But shopping for want is not bad, within reason.

Or, as my sister-in-law so eloquently puts it, "I'm never going Black Friday shopping just to wake up early, stand in line and punch someone in the face for the last thing."

Hope your Thanksgiving was awesome, whether you celebrated or not!

1 comment:

Unknown said...

It's also family bonding time for all of the women on my Mom's side of the family. Then we meet back up with the men for lunch and it caps off the time together.