Curing Black Friday Remorse

You don't save by spending

Exciting Black Friday! Spend spend spend and save save save!! You have worked hard, you deserve it!

The Black Friday Hangover

You wake up excited about your new purchases but there is that nagging feeling about paying 21% interest on your credit card balance that you can’t afford to pay off.

Encouraging you to buy things you don’t need and cant afford and then charging you 21% interest how large corporations make you their lifelong servant.

Want vs need

We Americans are the world’s champions at rationalization and the constant advertisements that pummel us convince us of all the things we “need”. Lets look at what we need: food, water, and shelter. Everything else is a want, not a need.

The problem is that social media serves to reinforce this wanton consumption. If your phone breaks and you post to social media about your bum luck and how you “have to” buy a iPhone 16 pro, you will get all kinds of sympathy and support which reinforces your decision to buy one. The thing is, do you really “need” a $1600 iPhone 16 or would a $150 android work?

Test for “needing” a purchase

If you do not purchase this item:

• Will you or any family member get sick or die?

• Will you or any family member lose their job?

If the answer to either question is “yes” then you need to purchase this item, otherwise, its a want and not a need.

Can you delay the purchase?

OK, you have decided you need to make an expenditure but can it wait? If you could wait until black Friday to purchase it then you can probably wait longer. The biggest sale of all is paying cash, its a 21% off sale because you save credit card interest.

Can you find a cheaper solution?

Once you have established that the expenditure is something you need, is there a cheaper option? This is where Americans are master rationalizers. You are an uber driver and must have a smart phone for work. You want a $1600 iPhone 16 and have convinced yourself you NEED it but a Galaxy A15 for $169 would actually work fine.

You need to get work and have convinced yourself that you NEED to buy a Tesla CyberTruck for 100k. The thing is, you WANT a CyberTruck but a 2005 Toyota Corolla is all you need. In fact, maybe you do not need a car at all. You could bike or take the bus to work? Could you Uber or carpool to work? Do a spreadsheet and be honest with yourself. A car is very convenient but very expensive when you include car payments, insurance, license fees, gas, and maintenance. Biking and public transportation is slow and hard but cheap. Using your hourly wage, estimate the times savings of owning a car and do a spreadsheet and decide which is the best decision.

At the top of the article, I mentioned the three basic needs of food, water, and shelter. For food, all you need is beans, rice, and corn but what you want is a dinner at Le FancyPants Steak House which is the place to see and be seen. For shelter, all you need is a tent with firewood but what you want is to live in a 5000 square foot apartment in Chateau de PeePee where everyone who is anyone lives. Need vs want.

Curing Black Friday Remorse

This is going to hurt and hurt bad. Put your tail between your legs, pack up those purchases and return them. Even if there is a 20% restocking fee, pay it.