Thursday 7 November 2019

Shop Till You Drop [A Handy Survival Kit for the Savvy Shopper]

Shop Till You Drop [A Handy Survival Kit for the Savvy Shopper]
Shop Till You Drop 

Shopping for the purpose of gifting is a fantastic gesture from one person to another. However, we must think with our heads and not just our hearts.

It does not matter if you are purchasing a gift during Thanksgiving or Christmas for a loved one or whether the gift is for you.

Real life story

Sometime last year, my sister was telling me how she overhead two female shoppers laminating about their spending. It was during the holiday season. One of the women was laminating about maxing out her credit credit on shopping for others. 

She then went on to say that she'll have to use monies from her January paycheck to cover her credit card.


I'm sharing this because this could happen to anyone of us. The unfortunate thing this that she would have to sacrifice some of her disposal income. As a result, she may even fall behind with other payments. Not to mention that it may take longer than one month to clear the debt. 

1) Tool kit #1
Let's focus on the errors we as shoppers make during the holiday season. Credit card spending is the first of these.


Shoppers who max out their credit cards to purchase gift items during the holidays do this because it is the one time of year when they may get to impress others with a kind gesture. Shoppers can avoid using their credit card by leaving their card at home. It removes the temptation of using their card.

Pretty basic, right! Nonetheless, we can get carried away what with all the bright lights going up in the shops.



Leading on from my first point, particularly when it comes to not having sufficient disposal income - desperation can quickly find its way into our heads.





2) Tool kit #2
When it comes to the desperation of having extra disposal income in our pockets, there's the saying that, "desperate times calls for desperate measures." It's fair to say that this saying can apply to different circumstances and mindsets of shoppers.

What could a cash strapped shopper possibly do for quick cash?


Shoppers could quite easily make the mistake of getting into get-rich-quick-schemes and gambling. Such schemes offers to double ones money with no work. They do this due to the pressure they place on themselves to purchase a gift. They can avoid this by refraining from having open discussions about their personal financial situation with covert opportunists. Opportunists are always ready to take advantage of the most financially vulnerable. Gambling is a game of odds with no guarantees of winning.

We cannot afford to loose money when there is just about enough to start with - or maybe there is very little to start with.

3) Tool kit #3
Okay,let's move on to another useful tool that you'll need in your box. So, you recently came into some lump sum amount of money. Perhaps you were expecting the lump sum or maybe it came as a pleasant surprise. Ask yourself this question, "what have I done with the money?" or "what do I plan to do with the money?"

Shoppers can be tempted to dig into any lump sum payments such as a redundancy payout or divorce settlement. Again, shoppers do this due to the pressure of the advertisements and promotions shown in the media. Any lump sum payments should have been invested prior to the holidays. If this has not been done yet, the shopper should do so now. Putting away your lump sum as an investment means that the money would be earning an interest.

4) Tool kit #4
Finally and the most power tool to have in your survival kit as a shopper is:


Beware of scams and fraudulent activities going on around you. The holiday season is when there is an increase in desire by shoppers to have a bigger buying power. By the same token, con artist are on the prowl. Resist the temptation of getting involved in such activities by coming to terms with the fact that you may just not be in a position to buy gifts this time around. 
We know that anyone caught engaging in fraudulent activities(at least in the Western world) is likely to face criminal charges. No one wants a criminal record simply because they want to buy gifts.

At this point, let me be 100% frank with you. I have made at least one of these mistakes. I'm writing from experience. I just do not want you to go through the same experience I had.

Did you enjoy todays' post? I really want to know which of these survival kits you'll use or already have in your tool box.

Until next time,
Much💙
Deborah



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