This was kind of interesting the other day where I was with a person who wanted to buy something from a fast food restaurant with a large part being because every Wednesday there is a sale for a particular item on the menu. Over and over again he kept emphasizing what the original price is and how he saved so much money. Then, he would try and persuade others that it is such a good deal too while suggesting that they should buy it as well. Because no one else bought it, he decided to buy more.
When you think about it, while he may have gotten more value wise he spent more than he normally would have anyways. I guess a lot of people do this and rarely does anyone ever keep track on how much more they actually spend as a result. In this case, it’s like you saved say $2 value wise, but overall you spent an extra $4 or so for the month. It adds up.
I think for situations like this a key to avoiding that cycle is to simply base your savvy shopping and savings skills on how much money you have in the bank at the end of the day and not specifically on what you bought value wise. Example, if you are the type that sets aside say $100 to buy clothes, it doesn’t matter if you bought say 1000 pieces of clothing items that were such a great deal. If you spent like $200 instead then that you technically lost money.
However, like with that, if you base it on the end numbers in terms of what you had in the savings, if you bought say 200 pieces of clothing item for $70 then that is a better accomplishment overall I’d say. Or, with the 1000 pieces of clothing item example, if you then sold say 500 of it for $300 then you can say you are at an advanced level as you actually made a profit out of it and it’s like you got to shop for free.
So if you like to prove to yourself that you get good deals all the time, changing what you base this success on can mean the difference between having a little or a lot of money at the end of the day.