By Samuel Hanina, Year 11
Think about the most utterly useless thing that you’ve ever bought. Back then, whatever thing you bought probably seemed like it was worth it. Maybe you weren’t thinking and just bought it, maybe your friends were buying it and you felt pressured, or maybe the store was just having a sale of a lifetime. Nevertheless, Black Friday is coming up, and you can probably imagine that scenarios just like that are happening again. See, with Black Friday, as we are immersed in a world of sales and opportunity cost, we think we save money, yet, in reality, it is truly a large unplanned spending that wouldn’t happen otherwise unless the shops had sales. These stores advertise their Black Friday sales in a way where you think to yourself “it can’t hurt to buy on a discount”. This leads you to go out and actually buy a large quantity of things explaining that “unplanned splurge”. This unplanned splurge can be very troubling for people’s budgeting, to stop this, these are what I consider to be two key questions that are important to ask yourself before buying anything on black Friday.
Starting off with what I think is the most fundamental question: “Will I actually use this?”. Far too often, Black Friday shoppers are faced with hundreds of products on shelves, many of which actually have little to no value to them. The only real reason why people buy the bulk of items sold on Black Friday is due to impulse, in which consumers are unconsciously and predatorily convinced that it is justified by the discount. For instance, Capital One, one of the largest banks in the States found that as of this year over 70% of online buyers in the US made impulse purchases due to advertised discounts, with many of these people ending up with buyers regret, a phenomenon which can cause someone to feel like they made a series of wrong decisions (spending wise, impulsiveness, etc). This creates intense emotional reactions that even affect people’s daily lives. By asking if you really need the product, you not only prevent buyer’s regret, but you also make a calculated decision, which completely eliminates that compulsion to buy.
Another useful question would be, “Am I buying this because I want it, or because my friends are buying it?”. You should always remember to think about the surrounding pressure of your decision. For example, most of the time during big events, people do the thing that we humans do best; talk. This is one of the main ways word can get spread about specific deals or items, that may make you feel pressured to buy them solely due to the fact that everyone else is talking about it. Social media (platforms like Instagram, X, Tiktok, etc) nowadays is a common method used to advertise because it can be quite attention grabbing; it’s likely for people to experience a phrase commonly used in slang today, “FOMO” (fear of missing out). This sort of crippling anxiety is associated with the possibility of missing out on experiences others are having. This explains why questioning your decision like this can really be the difference between a thoughtful yes or no. Considering this separates you from any external duress, and allows you to “center yourself” so to speak to clearly outline your wants, isolating them from the wants of other people.
In summary, although people do actually end up spending larger amounts of money instead of saving it on occasions like Black Friday, it is crucial to always think critically of your decisions and question yourself.
