Posted on December - 07 - 2010

Are You Overspending To Save Money?

With every news channel reporting that shoppers spent $45 billion this past Black Friday alone, it is more than clear that the power of a well-publicized deal gets Americans to spend some serious cash!

This is seemingly great news for the economy, but what has actually changed for shoppers over this past year? The employment rate isn’t up, nor is the housing market—so why is spending this holiday season on the rise? Do Americans actually have more money to spend, or are they just overspending and racking up debt?

Early Bird Bargains.

Case in point: We ventured to the local GAP store at 6am on Black Friday with our friend Susan. They were offering 50% off from 6am to10 am, and we jumped at the chance to be there bright (or actually, dark) and early when the doors opened. At 50% off everything in the store, we figured it was worth it! As it turns out, we got more than just some great bargains at the GAP… the woman standing next to us at the checkout counter offered a valuable reminder about why sales—even when intended to save money—can lead to us spend more instead!

We Should Have Known Something Was Up.

The woman next to us was piling up her purchases on the counter—and we mean piling. She had so much stuff we figured she was buying for her whole family and every gift she needed now and for the foreseeable future. It’s not really relevant, but we also want to mention that at 6am this woman was in full make-up, hair done and in a cute outfit We should have known something was a bit off, right? But anyway, after the cashier rung up all—and we do mean all—of her purchases, she announced, “Your total is $300. It would have been $600, but with the sale you just saved $300!” We expected the customer to be overjoyed at the news that she had just ‘saved’ $300. However, her reaction was anything but.



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