Savings

Holidays – Happy or Sad?

Holidays

Sheri here –

Thanksgiving is when we get to spend time with friends and family and enjoy wonderful food.  This is also a time we reminisce about the old times.

Some of those old times may not be so great.  We tend to have high expectations of how the holidays should be.

Yet, life happens, and it has no regard for the holidays.

Sad Memories Maybe Part of the Holidays

You may, like me, have some sad memories of things that happened at this time of year.  My Dad passed away about ten years ago at the end of October and that holiday season was overshadowed by the missing of a loved one.

Yet, the rest of the family was together, and we did laugh and giggle about some of the previous times.

You too might have had something similar, a loved one ill or facing a serious situation.  

This time of year may evoke those sad memories.  Yet, we don’t need to be overwhelmed by them.  Rather, we can use this time of year as an opportunity to cherish the good memories with those no longer with us.

We can cherish the old times and also create new traditions, spend time with the rest of the family, invite friends, have an orphan Thanksgiving or join some new friends to do something different.

As I’ve mentioned before, during this season of Thanksgiving, spend some time at dinner and focus on the good stuff.  Share the things in your life that you are grateful for, the blessings.  Feel the glow of good feelings as you enjoy the good food.

When we focus on the blessings in our life, we fill our life with love, happiness and hope.  What a great gift (and it’s free!!).

Maybe spend a little time after dinner watching football and reading the Black Friday ads.

Black Friday Money Saving Tips

To help with the Black Friday adventures, here are a couple more tips to go easy on your pocketbook:

  1. Spend time with the Black Friday ads, make your choices and be intentional about your purchases.
  2. Eat before you go shopping, so you aren’t hungry and possibly make poor decisions.
  3. Be kind to those around you who are also in the store, bring your holiday cheerful self.

Just as an added refresher, here are the Black Friday shopping tips from last week:

  1. Decide on your budget before you start and stick to it!
  2. Spend cash or use your debit card and avoid building credit card debt.
  3. Make a list of what you are looking for and the people you are shopping for.

Want more money saving tips?  Check out my “101 Ways to Saving Money” – just click here.

Have a wonderful time with family and friends.  Happy Thanksgiving.

Ciao,

Sheri

Pause Before You Buy

Negotiation

Sheri here –

Have you ever found yourself caught up in the moment and pushing forward with something that you thought was going to be a really, really good deal. Then just when you were going to say YES! You paused to think about it and realized No, No, No. What was I thinking???

Of course, “they” say, that if seems to good to be true, it probably is!!

I recently had an experience where I thought I needed a new computer; the reason was ALMOST in the category of buying a new car cuz the ashtray was full and I don’t smoke.

I was negotiating a PC purchase. Yes, I admit it, I’ve been a PC Gal since the earlydays of computers. The days of the big floppy disks. Oh, but I date myself.

Buying from the manufacturer with special “referral” pricing from an organization I belonged to, just HAD to be a good deal, right? I was assured I was getting the best deal that they had to offer. (Ding, ding, ding – how many red flags went off for you here??)

Comparison Shopping

But after looking at the price, I thought wait, is it REALLY a good deal. It was time to stop and do some comparison shopping.

One might ask, why didn’t I do comparison shopping first? Good question!

Comparison shopping and shopping are just so easy today. Almost too easy.

Sure enough, the deal wasn’t as good as I’d been led to believe. The excitement of a shiny new object was fortunately overruled by good sense.

This time, I escaped a bad and expensive, impulsive decision.  This was followed by still deeper thought about whether this purchase was necessary.  That answer was no.

Sometimes the negotiating and the buying just seem like fun, even if it isn’t a good decision.  Pausing saved the day!

Have you found yourself in that same situation – caught up in the heat of the moment, wanting that shiny new something?  Thinking that you’d just die if you didn’t get. And then you pause, you said wait, let me think this through?

Would you share your experiences and your shopping stories?  Those times that you almost bought something but decided to wait and saved yourself a LOT of money.  

Share your favorite negotiation tips in the comments below.

A Few Money Saving Tips

  1. Be specific and know what you want before you start shopping. 
  2. Avoid impulse buying or retail therapy.
  3. Do your research, your comparison shopping, especially on a large purchase, so that you recognize a good deal.
  4. Make a list of people or items you are shopping for and stick to your list.
  5. Think about what you are buying and why, is it necessary or the right gift for that person on your list.

Find these tips helpful? Then you might want to download my free ebook “101 Ways to Save Money” – just click here to download!

Have a great week!

Ciao,

Sheri

P.S. Would enjoy hearing your stories of shopping experiences gone awry, post in the comments below, just to know I’m not alone….

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