How to Handle ALLLL the Sales (Without acquiring ALLLL the clutter)
Have you watched the new documentary on Netflix about consumer culture and what it is doing to our planet and lives? We are in a consumer culture crisis. The reason my profession as a professional organizer has blown up in recent decades, is because people just have so much more stuff than they used to (and bigger homes to put their clutter in). It’s too easy to buy something without putting much thought into it, and it is so much more affordable to buy new things like clothing and toys than it was 50 years ago. Yet, what our parents and grandparents taught us about not wasting is also a part of our brains, so it is still hard for most people to donate or throw out something they bought, even if they never used it.
SO, how do you shop the Black Friday sales (and any future Prime Days, etc., without turning your home into a cluttered mess?
Prepare. You can take advantage of special sales by keeping lists of what you actually need or want to buy someone as a gift, and then purchase ONLY those items during the sale. Tell yourself you will get in, and get out. No perusing the aisles of stores “to see if there is a good deal” or wandering through the sale pages on a website. This is how you end up with extra stuff you did not need or want.
If you are in the market for a new vacuum, for example. Absolutely wait for Black Friday. I personally do this for larger purchases. I keep a list of items I think we need, as well as holiday gift ideas for each family member. By making a list of something you want and revisiting it a week or month later, you might find you don’t actually want it anymore. I plan ahead with what I need to purchase and don’t add anything else to my cart.
Don’t buy in bulk. Do you know how many expired bottles of medicine or tubes of creams I throw out in client homes because they purchased it on Amazon in a pack of 12 in order to “save money” and “get it next day”? You can get it same day if you run up to any local pharmacy, and then you don’t have to store 12 tubes of Aquaphor and dispose of it later (technically wasting money in the end). Have a baby or toddler and hate going into stores? Been there. Do a Target or grocery pickup. It’s better for your wallet and the planet.
I get it. BUT IT’S ON SALE goes through your mind whenever you see something you might like online or in person. The reality is that in today’s consumer culture, almost everything is on sale. Companies raise their prices, so they can run sales constantly and still make the profit they want. So for a lot of items, they are not actually on sale. It’s a sales tactic. In my own Etsy shop, I noticed sales are sparse if I don’t have a sale. So, I basically always have a “sale”. Do I like dong this? No, but its the reality. These days people only want free, fast shipping, and a mark down. We have become conditioned to this.
If you have a consistant problem shopping and spending more than you should, I highly recommend Tracy McCubbins’ Book Making Space for Happiness, linked here.
