The Writer’s Coin

I was up at 3:30am.

I threw elbows to get through the crowds.

I stood in a line that snaked through an entire Target for 45 minutes to check out.

I saw a woman pay with a credit card that she hadn’t even activated yet and asked the cashier to “put $100 on this one and $100 on the other one.”

I saw people scooping up Guitar Hero like it was the last bottle of water after a devastating hurricane.

It was crazy.

Here is the one thing that stuck out for me the whole time:

Being frugal is hard. In general I don’t think I’ve ever felt this way. I’m proud of not needing to buy this or that thing. Proud to feel superior to those who feel they must spend their money unnecessarily.

But Black Friday changed things for me. There I was, wandering around the electronics section of Target as people walked around scooping up XBox 360s, Guitar Hero games, digital cameras, laptops, flat-screen TVs, stacks of DVDs and CDs, and I just stood there watching them, wishing I was them.

I was jealous.

When you know you can’t afford to binge like this and everyone around you is indulging themselves, it’s really really hard. I felt sick to my stomach and part of me just wanted to buy buy buy, no matter what it was. If there would’ve been a Wii available, I would’ve bought it even though I’m already over my monthly budget (which was expected) because of all the presents I bought for people. Buying things for others doesn’t relieve the oppressed consumerism that every frugal person has dormant inside.

I want a flat scree TV.

I want a WII.

I want a new computer.

I want to walk out of that store with a whole bunch of stuff.

Luckily, I had to buy a pretty expensive camcorder for my sister’s birthday, so that big a purchase really put a dent into any major purchase I would’ve made for myself. But even now I’m still feeling it and I’m browsing online to see if I can get a Wii anywhere.

That’s $250 for those that are unfamiliar with it. It’s not that I don’t have the money it’s just that I should be leaving that money where it is, in my ING account, growing. For the really serious purchases: down payment, a trip somewhere, etc.

There is only one scenario that I can see where I’m doing this again next year, and I saw a few people doing this last week. If there is one specific item (or two) that I’ve researched, looked into, wanted/needed for a long time, and all of the sudden there is a huge sale price on it, then go out there and get that one item. You’ll save a ton of money and it’ll definitely be worth it. But if you go just as a general browser you may end up buying stuff just for the sake of buying stuff, and that can and will hurt your finances in the short and long run.

The credit-card companies must love the holidays.

Anyway, what was your Black Friday like?

Tags: black friday, frugal, shopping, wii