Don't click 'add to cart' just yet

Some questions before you succumb to the BFCM shopping frenzy

Just a quick e-mail reminder that it’s okay to back away slowly before you press that “add to cart” button. No really, it is.

I know that advertising executives are paid more than you or I even want to think about to convince us that we need more ‘stuff.’ This is, after all, the time of year that we are supposed to purchase things with reckless abandon, then add a few special treats to the cart to reward ourselves for pushing through the shopping frenzy.

Believe me, I want your holidays to be merry and bright— but I’m not so sure that a ‘merry and bright’ holiday comes from Amazon packages on the front stoop or an impending sense of doom from your credit card balance. The statistics vary widely, but between 1/4 and 2/3 of holiday shoppers say they will go into debt to afford this year’s celebrations… and many are still paying off last year’s bills. Last I talked to Santa, he’d rather see you forgo his milk + cookie tray than struggle to pay the holiday bills.

And listen, I don’t know your kids, but I do know mine. And mine are genuinely as happy playing with a cardboard box as they are playing with a $90 Lego set (those tiny bricks are mimicking the housing market, y’all!). So you can stick to whatever variation of minimalist holiday giving you’ve decided on— ‘need, want, wear, read’, the ‘3 gifts like baby Jesus,’ or whatever other gift-giving rule you’ve come up with— and trust that your littles would rather spend quality time with you than see 30 presents under the tree. (And your partner? Don’t call me a grinch, but I’m sure they’d rather see you unload the dishwasher than scroll for hours in search of the ‘perfect gift’).

If you’re gifting to your cat though? Listen, I’m not crossing that feisty little sucker. Give him/her/them all the catnip you want.

So sure, finish up that holiday gift list, and snag the robot vacuum you’ve had your eye on for months (you can always use a price history tracker like Keepa to determine if the Black Friday Deal’ on that vacuum/ air purifier/ Insta-pot/ random kitchen gadget is… well, not exactly a once-a-year special). But chances are, if you didn’t need it yesterday, you still don’t need it today. And the absolute last thing Jeff Bezos needs is more of your hard-earned money in his pocket.

Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

I shared these questions last year, but this is worth the reminder. Before you make any purchases this week, there are a few questions you can ask yourself:

1. How do I see this item fitting into my home and my life? Do I already own things that could meet this need?

2. Is this item something that I need or love enough that I would be willing to buy it at full price?

3. What am I hoping that this item says about me? Is this meeting a need, or am I trying to virtue/ status signal with this purchase (ie., who do I hope will see it)? If your answer is that girl in high school who always hated me or my passive-aggressive co-worker, it’s theoretically possible that you just might should re-consider.

4. Do a quick Opportunity Cost calculation— Divide the cost of the item/ your or your household’s hourly wage. For example, if you make $30/ hour and you’re considering a $75 piece of clothing, is it worth 2.5 hours of your time? Of course, this figure doesn’t take into account the cost of cleaning, maintaining, and storing the item, or even the true production cost of the item itself, but it’s a start.

5. How long do you see yourself using this product for? What does its end-of-life look like?

6. (If you’re going to purchase this item) Is there a way to purchase it from a small or sustainable business instead of a big-box retailer?

And this Thanksgiving, it’s okay— fantastic even— to just be grateful for what you have, no upgrades required.