Money Musings 💭 how to “beat” the sales this weekend 🥇
Happy Thanksgiving Week!
Down below you can learn more about the woman we have to thank for bringing us the Thanksgiving holiday - Sarah Josepha Hale. 👏
As we approach the biggest shopping weekend of the year, I want to share the strategies I’ve developed for not over spending (too much).
For years, I matter of factly decided I wouldn’t buy anything on Black Friday or Cyber Monday - and I consistently failed. 🤦♀️Sometimes bigger than others. These are five things that have changed the game for me:
I make a list of what I want to buy BEFORE the sales start and do some research. For example, I want to buy a screen for my home office and know that I’ll probably get the best deal on Cyber Monday.
I ask myself - would I buy this if it weren’t on sale? If not, I’m not saving money, I’m spending more money than I otherwise would.
I give myself as much time as possible. I’m a big fan of the 48-hour rule, but some sales don’t give us that much time. Do the best you can.
Is this purchase in budget? And if not, and I really want it, where can I reallocate my money or let go of other expenses in order to make it work?
I visualize. It’s one week after I made the purchase. Am I using the thing? Are I happy? Do I regret it? It’s one month from now and I’m paying off my credit card bill. Am I still happy I made the purchase?
Because things that are good for us should also go on sale, all of our Fiscal Femme courses will be BOGO (Buy One Get One) until Monday, December 2nd (our biggest course sale ever). Before purchasing, I recommend going through this checklist to make sure you really want to invest!
Money Move of the Week
Mitigate environmental toxins. In The 30-Day Money Cleanse there’s an entire section on mitigating environmental toxins. What are they? Environmental toxins are the people, places, things, and experiences that get the best of our spending. And given there will be an abundance of them this coming weekend, I thought it was the perfect time for this money move. Environmental toxins the friends we go out with and spend wayyy more than we plan, or the places we go with the intention of buying one thing but leave with many many others (looking at you Target and Sephora!). And it’s not only the purchases themselves that are the problem. The real problem is that they put us in a tailspin. We already spent more than we planned, so what’s another X, Y, and Z? This can go on for days, weeks, or even years. The first step to mitigating environmental toxins is to find them. What people, places, and things get the best of your spending? Are there any specific ones you see getting in your way this weekend in particular? Make a list.
You Gotta See This
We can thank for Sarah for Thanksgiving. Sarah Josepha Buell Hale was a poet and novelist, and in 1837 she became the editor of a very popular magazine Godey's Lady's Book (she also wrote the nursery rhyme “Mary Had a Little Lamb”). She used her platform at the magazine to write about the Thanksgiving holiday, share delicious recipes, and build support for the day. She lobbied readers to petition the president (President Taylor) to make Thanksgiving a national holiday. Her efforts paid off in 1863 when she wrote to President Lincoln, requesting a “National and fixed holiday” be held annually on the last Thursday of November. Lincoln made November 26th the national Thanksgiving holiday, but it wasn’t until 1941 that FDR made it a federal holiday on the 4th Thursday of November. If only Sarah was around to see it happen!