So today is Mother’s Day and like most people I spent the day with my mom. Funny enough, one of the thing she wanted to see was that new Target store where since there wasn’t a local store at the moment so we had to drive a little to a mall that did have one. Every mom must have a similar way of thinking as the place was packed with what seemed to be kids taking their mom to go shopping for the day.

What was interesting to me was that in some stores there were these signs on the shelves saying “This is a perfect gift for moms” where at first there didn’t seem to be any real theme to it. For example, at first you would see one on the shelf that sells candy and then the next one would be in the area that sells light-blubs. It wasn’t until I went to the computer section when it dawned on me.

Basically, I saw the same signage in the section that sold computer routers and of course my first reaction was “I’m sure every mother in the world wants a router for Mother’s day.” Having more knowledge in this space I was able to see that the product had a crazy markup on it. Hence, the company makes more money and so it would make sense that they are trying to convince people to buy it.

I guess that goes to show that if you are one of those people who are desperately looking for a gift the last minute and are solely relying on the store to give you knowledge on what’s best prepare to pay more than you should in a lot of cases. Always pays to do your own research as oppose to relying on like the salesmen.

I was just thinking today as almost every grocery store I saw had piles of candy and chocolate that are on sale as I suppose a lot of people buy them for gifts. A lot of this stuff is good for quite a long time too. At the same time, I would think most people would not actually stock up on things like this as opposed to simply buying it when the occasion is right. Makes me wonder, is it simply because it is fairly inexpensive that it is not worth the time to stock up to save money for most?

Some of these chocolate packages too aren’t like one dollar as they are like $10 or more. So it can definitely add up. The only other thing I can think of is the sheer pressure of looking weird as chocolates aren’t exactly an essential need so stocking up on items like that to save money can look strange to many.

There was a conversation today about the thoughtfulness when it comes to gifts and I was kind of surprised to hear that a guy said he thought that if people gave him a gift card it was less thoughtful then simply giving money. The reason was interesting as apparently he felt people usually grab the gift card at like the checkout line of their favourite store and therefore there is not much thought. When asked how cash is any different he mentioned that it is more flexible and so the person took time to consider that giving a gift card would restrict his ability to make purchases.

I personally don’t see much difference honestly as a gift is a gift. I would think the person has to know at least where you shop at so that you would actually spend it in a place you normally would anyhow. Unless it’s like giving people a gift card from like say your favorite restaurant where you know like the recipient doesn’t like the place.

It’s Black Friday shopping for a lot of people soon and one friend was telling me that he was ready to buy over $5000 worth of stuff. The thing was it consisted of gifts mostly. At first I thought there must be a lot of people on his list. In reality, it was just a few select people that fell under the category of they already own everything. Therefore, it seemed like the answer to this was to just get something even more expensive.

What I find interesting about that is most people assume people buy those expensive items because they are say egotistical about how much money they have. A lot of the times from what I see anyways people just spend a load of money because they just can’t think of what to buy or get that would be creative/meaningful as a gift. Therefore, it is more of a substitute. This is usually when the questions come too where the person just blunt out asks what the other wants as a gift. Of course, the answer is usually nothing and that it is okay as they want you to save your money. I guess like in many cases people do the opposite of what you tell them huh?

As dumb as it sounds, many times people that have the materialistic items have never even done the simple things. For example, going to a certain park/area where you get a really good view of the city or even some natural nature items. Because of that it’s something new and can be valued just as much as a n expensive gift. I suppose with that in mind instead of always thinking of gifts as something that the person must physically own that it can be about the experience mostly too. You’d be surprised at how many things there are that people have never done where you introducing it to them can be like a gift on its own.

A person was telling me how they got this voucher that essentially gave them about five hundred dollars free to spend in terms of travel fees. She was already on a tight budget as it is so this was a nice way to get a trip without having to pay for it. However, as it turns out she would have to spend money to enjoy it as she would still have to pay for things like the food and accommodations. So in a sense she would still be spending even though she originally wouldn’t have.

This then raised the debate in her mind on whether not she should just sell the voucher. But of course it would seem a bit rude as this was a gift. That’s always something to consider financially when you are buying gifts on whether or not you are setting the person up to spend more money than they can afford. Usually just takes a little bit of extra planning too to ensure that they can actually enjoy the gift without it breaking their bank.