Financial Freedom Quick Tip #17: Buy now and save! Whatever.
Patient: Roll around in the mud and be clean!
Doctor: Uhm…
Patient: Fart now and smell like a rose!
Doctor: What?
Patient: Buy now and save!
Doctor: You’re crazy.
My point? Spending is not saving.
This is an excerpt from the great book I also mentioned in a previous tip:
Throughout 1998, anthropologist Daniel Miller studied the shopping behavior of the residents of a street in North London. His major discovery was that, for most people, the most important factor in shopping is actually saving – but this did not mean they were spending less money.
Have you noticed that just about every shop have sales – where they promise great “savings” – several times a year? Did you ever stop and ask yourself why?
Those shops managed to figure out the same thing as our anthropologist friend Daniel Miller!
Here is another excerpt from the next paragraph:
Shoppers are so easily tempted by “bargains”, they tend to ignore the fact that they are buying something they would never have bought if it hadn’t been on sale.
Next time you’re tempted to buy something, simply because it is on sale, ask yourself: would I buy this if was not on sale? If your answer is “no”, then you don’t really need it.
Remember: There is no such thing as buying and saving. To think otherwise is… well… crazy.
You can spend OR you can save. Those are your options.
This tip is part of the Financial Freedom Quick Tips series. If you want to receive a notice every time a new quick tip is published, you can subscribe to Liberta.
August 4th, 2008 at 03:49 pm
our logic is awesome!
August 4th, 2008 at 05:00 pm
Don’tcha just love the reasoning of the human mind? Good gracious! People really do do this. We especially see it at Christmas. People think they save more so then they buy more, when in reality, they are spending the same amount, if not more. They just have more junk to show for it. That aspect of the holiday is a huge turn-off for me. The whole meaning of Christmas has completely gone out the window. The world has forgotten the real reason we should celebrate Christmas. So sad! Sorry – this is one of my soapboxes.
Great post!
August 4th, 2008 at 08:31 pm
thank God i don’t like to shop!!!!!