And I think I'm smart!
I’m going broke saving money! Sounds like an oxymoron. Call it what you will, it’s the truth.
I’ve learned the hard way that marketers have me pegged. Offer me a $10-off coupon on just about anything and I buy. Forget the requirement that I have to spend $50 to get that “free” $10. In my mind—and obviously in the minds of thousands of other consumers (otherwise, these coupons would be nonexistent)—the $10-off appeal makes spending an additional $40 or more dollars a good deal. Then I go over the bills at month’s end and realize how very stupid I am. That’s when I know I’ve been suckered again!
Businesses will use just about any tactic—they call it a “campaign”—to get sales and they depend on people like me...people who have an unbridled desire to save $10 on just about anything. Like me, budget-conscious consumers think that they can’t afford to pass up free money. Saving money on the things we need is a good thing, but spending additional money for things we really don’t need is not good for the budget.
My local drug store offers these $10-off coupons on a regular basis. I look for these coupons because I tend to spend a lot of money in this store. I, however, never seem to have a shopping list that adds up to $50. So in order to get my free money, I always have to buy something that is not on my list to meet the coupon’s requirement. And that “something” is usually a beauty product. (At the particular store where I shop, the cosmetic section is the closest to the check-out registers.) Mascara or eye shadow or lipstick or nail polish or a combination of these products is usually added to my shopping cart when I have a $10-off coupon. I can now boast—I’m not sure “boast” is the right word!—that I have more than 20 lipsticks (I use only two), numerous colors of eye shadow (I usually only wear gray), more nail posh colors that a well-stocked salon and mascara—well, let’s not go there!
It’s time—well past the time—for me to become a savvy shopper. (If I can’t be smart than I should be, at the very least, savvy!) I need to forget these “free” money offers. I know…I know…you don’t get anything for free. I learned this adage years ago. I have to relearn this truth again, especially before I am forced to get another lipstick or another beauty product or something else that I definitely don’t need.
Comments
Oh my, another "Confessions of a Shopaholic," who discovers the lure. Yet it still lures. I feel your pain.
Posted by: Maureen McDonald | May 21, 2007 08:32 AM