That doesn’t mean you have to buy it!
This no-buy mantra you should be repeating to yourself as you walk through the Boxing Day sales.
Just because the “Deluxe Cheese Straightener” is 75% off, do you need it? Impulse buying is what Boxing Day sales are all about if you don’t plan what you want to buy.
Mrs. Caj was pointing an accusatory finger at me when I told her about this posting because we did manage to find a Wii Fit on December 23rd, by simply walking into a Best Buy at 8:27 PM walking into the aisle where the Wii Fit would be, picking one out of the just-opened box and walking away with it. Mrs. Caj and I chuckled the whole way out of the store.
Was this impulse buying? I’ll plead guilty because we did have some money left over (cash given to us by a relative, thus this was bought with money), and we planned to purchase the Fit. However, we had also decided that we would wait until the next birthday to get it. Is this impulse buying? I’ll plead guilty on this one.
Do I Really Need This?
Remember, as you wander through the aisles of RABID shoppers, if you aren’t trying to get something you planned to buy, you are impulse buying (or doing some retail therapy), and that is a mistake.
Previous Boxing Days?
I have written on the topic of Boxing Day a few times.
- Boxing Day? Big Bloody Deal! was my first rant about the day. In 2006 there were sales, but were they that exciting?
- Let the Boxing Quarter Begin does sum up the entire concept of Boxing “day”, it just keeps going on.
- Just because it’s on sale, another classic rant about impulse buying the day after Christmas, 2008.
- Holiday Cheer Volume 4 got lazy in 2009 and just put out a list of posts from that year.
- Carnival of Money Stories: Happy Pseudo Boxing Day! Back in the day when Blogging Carnivals were all the rage (2009).
- Sales and What is the Price?!? started to figure out the connection between Black Friday and Boxing Day sales. Neither really saved you much, did they? Not really in 2010.
- Happy Pseudo Boxing Day was just really a best of kind of post, no real commentary on Boxing Day itself.
- Mayhem and Sunday’s Best (on Monday) it seems that Boxing Day was an excuse for me to post a best of posts list? This article seems to prove the point?
- Advice for the day in 2012? Don’t buy crap, which is good advice any time. If something you need is on sale, buy it, if not, don’t!
- One Thing You Can Buy on the day is to buy something you need.
- Mayhem is always present on Boxing Day, but remember just because it is on sale, doesn’t mean you have to buy it.
- The 12 Days of Christmas Debt is something to think about on Boxing Day? Maybe think about that at Thanksgiving?
- Weirdest Boxing Day Ever? What do you expect during a Pandemic, I suppose?
- Happy Boxing Day 2023! Will we return to the mayhem we are used to?
Good description.
I wouldn’t say that buying something early that you are planning on buying if you don’t need to use credit is impulse buying. Impulse buying would be going in with 40 bucks to get someone a movie, finding the movie is on sale half price so you leave with 120 bucks on your credit card and 40 bucks in your pocket because you got such a deal on the movie you buy Wii Fit too . . . and who wants to do two transactions at the cash register?