Post Christmas Sales
The Post Christmas sales seem to have come early this year with many stores already offering discounts to entice shoppers in and to spend some of your cash with them.
The offers will only get more and more tempting as Christmas nears and then passes so how do you minimise the chances of getting caught in the hype and manage to keep your cash in your wallet?
It can be tough to resist the sales and for some of us there are items we genuinely need and have been waiting for the sales in the hope of the best bargain possible. So here are my top tips to surviving the post Chritmas sales.
If you are after a particular item start your research now using all of those colourful catalogue's coming into your mailbox each week. Keep a running track in your notebook of the cheapest store each week for the item/s you are after in the sales. Then when you get to the sales after Christmas, take your list with you to find a price even cheaper than those offered before Christmas and trust me you will find it cheaper after than before. If the item you are after isn't cheaper than before Christmas, hold off on buying the item until it comes down again after the initial mad sales rush.
Minimise the temptation
If you aren't planning on going to the sales, stop reading the catalogues or junkmail in your mailbox, throw it straight into the recycling bin.
Once Chritmas has been and gone, avoid shopping centres and stand alone shops to minimise the temptation until at least the start of February. Order your groceries online for a few weeks until you can safely go to the shops without being tempted to stray past the grocery store to the other stores.
If you have to go to the shops post Christmas, consider these tactics to help your wallet survive intact.
- Write a list the night before you go shopping of the items you need to buy.
- Check the list again the morning of your shopping trip and take at least one thing off the list.
- Stick to the list! If you didn't need it last night, you don't need it once you reach the shops either.
- Work out your plan of attack so you only go near the stores you want.
- Avoid browsing through other stores or other departments, remember if it is not on the list you don't need it, no matter how much of a bargain it appears to be. Stick to your list.
- Set yourself some dollar limits to ease the burden on your finances.
- Set a maximum dollar limit for each item on your list.
- Set a dollar limit for each store you plan to visit.
- And lastly, set a maximum dollar limit you can afford to spend for your entire shopping trip.
Once you reach any of your dollar limits, it's time to head onto the next item on your list or if you hit your total limit for the trip, it's time to call it a day and head home.
If you're still a bit worried about overspending, then take cash or use eftpos or a debit card to help you out.
There isn't a lot of fun in having what feels like a good time at the sales to only find that starting a savings plan or paying off your credit card is on your New Years resolution list come 1 January.
With the strong Aussie dollar and the economy in its current state, sales will linger well into the new year so you won't be missing out if you avoid the sales crush and wait.
