So I needed to pick up pictures that were printed at Walgreens. I realized walking in that there would be temptations. They usually have the last holiday’s yummy candies for super sale. They have so many fun things to buy but not necessary items. I think the last time (last year;) I was in there I bought a $20 plug in massager. A few years back I bough at $70 shoulder massager thing that was on sale from Costco but it broke after a year or so. At the time of purchase I thought I was getting a great deal because it was “originally” $100. I am telling you those “sales” are what pull me in. I was listening to The More of Less and the author shared this story. A manager of a major department store (I can’t remember which one now) decided instead of always having sales that he would mark everything as low as he could to increase sales. Their sales actually went down. There is something about a sale that says “Up to 90%” off or BOGO that lures people in. I think it plays on our desire to be good stewards. We walk out of a store proud of the deals we got even though we never intended to buy anything in the first place. I have teased my husband countless times on how much money I am saving him because I found this thing marked way down. But I would have actually saved our family more if I never bought it in the first place.

Ok so back to my Walgreens story. There was the sign “70% Christmas items”. There were a whole bunch of things that I did not need personally. But I saw some fun stocking stuffer items. I bought 3 toys for $1.50 each to tuck away for Christmas. I may have found a loophole in my challenge/experiment. I know I can buy gifts. I sat there wondering if these were good stocking stuffers. I decided to get them. Kinda of crazy that it is January and I already bought Christmas gifts. But maybe I will be done by November to enjoy the holidays more fully. Shoot I should try to be done by October because we have 2 birthdays and Halloween. So while writing this I went back to my “rules” for this experiment because I could not remember them all. I had said that I could buy gifts but that I wanted to not impulse buy and sit and wait on items a few days before buying to make sure it was really a good gift. Nuts. So I am learning. :). My hope for this experiment is to really learn and grow from it. We often learn the most from our failures. I don’t plan to “fail” and buy a whole bunch of stuff for the sake of learning.;) But I am also kind on myself as I attempt this ginormous, crazy experiment. Even though I did not wait a few days, I think these little gifts were sweet finds. But moving forward I do not want/plan to impulse buy. If I see a sweet deal, I want to wait a few days if possible. Most of the time it is. My mind already thinks ahead and wonders “what if I am at a store hours from my house and I find a sweet deal?” ;). It is the fear of missing out that truly causes us to impulse buy. Ok so if I was in one of those random situations then I will ask my husband if he thinks I should buy it. He is great at saving and not suckered into deals like I am. So I had a real life scenario of being at a store far from home (a Walmart near Outer Banks) and I saw the Star Wars Lego set that my son had been wanting. I ended up not buying it at the time and later could only find it for sale from a third party for $20 bucks more. With things like legos, I swear middle aged men swoop in, buy them up and then resale them or keep them for their “collection”. 😉 Anyways a back story to help see why I fear not getting the deal when I see it. P.S. buying Legos is never really a deal, they are outrageously priced then they stop producing them so they become collector’s items. I am certain it is a marketing ploy that plays on the fear that if I don’t buy it now then I will have to spend $900 to buy it off a dude on Ebay. Sidenote- I have never spent $900 on legos off of Ebay.