Are you a Black Friday shopper?
Last year 225 million people went shopping the day after Thanksgiving. That’s one in three Americans. Some of them camped out overnight and missed Thanksgiving with their family in the name of a good deal.
Now, I love a bargain, but I have to ask- Is our time really worth Black Friday’s deals? Is there anything we can buy on Black Friday that we can’t buy, if we really need it, on another day? Is a deal really a deal when we put ourselves in the least enjoyable shopping environment there is?
Our time is precious. If we have an extra day to do with as we please aren’t there far more pressing and enjoyable things we can do than shop? Would you rather have an extra day of vacation to do with as you like or a day spent circling the mall parking lot looking for a parking space? When we compare stressful shopping to all the other things we could be doing with our time, enjoyable things, it is hard to believe that a third of us voluntarily give our time to the madness of Black Friday shopping.
There are so many great ways to spend a vacation day that don’t include shopping. One of the best things to reveal itself from my family’s commitment to have less stuff is that we don’t have to do what everyone else does. While our neighbors might be inclined to use Black Friday to score a lot of new things, we don’t have to do the same. We have a choice. And on Black Friday you can also choose to do any one of these free and worthwhile activities.
5 Awesome Free Things To Do on Black Friday
1. Spend time with people you love. Instead of waiting in line with other shoppers spend Black Friday with people you love and care about. Time with friends and family is so much more rewarding than electronics sales.
2. Take a no spend day. Yes, put your wallet away. Raid your pantry or freezer instead of grocery shopping and invite someone over instead of meeting in a coffee shop. Waiting one day to purchase something may make you realize you didn’t need it in the first place.
3. Use something you already own. Have a Twister tournament, play basketball with the hoop out front or watch all the Star Wars movies back to back. Instead of buying new entertainment revisit what you may have forgotten.
4. Fix something that needs mending. That door with the loose hinge, the lamp that you have been meaning to rewire and the button that has been waiting patiently to be sewn back on your coat. Repair something you’ve been putting off for a while and it’s like you went shopping on Black Friday for free without all the lines and inconvenience.
5. Call a friend that lives far away. Be it a state or ocean away, call a friend that you have been meaning to catch up with. Skype makes it free and setting a time in advance when you can both talk without interruption will make it even more enjoyable and special.
Resist those sale signs and the flyer induced hysteria about limited quantities and do something awesome, free and truly enjoyable this Black Friday. Even if that awesome and free thing is doing nothing more than lazing about in your pyjamas all day.
Want more calm this season? Check out: Go Zen – instead of Frantic – this Holiday Season
Will you be shopping on Black Friday? Do you think the sales are worth all the lines and trouble?
Unfortunately, this year I forgot to get a couple of things from the store before Thanksgiving so I had to go to Walmart on Black Friday. It was, interesting, to say the least.
YES! Lovely post as usual. Our 5 for this Friday: 1. taking a hike; 2. practicing sewing; 3. working on homemade Christmas gifts; 4. relaxing and; 5. spending a day together.
great activities! 🙂
Yes! Yes! Yes! This gal and her family will be staying at home enjoying each others company. Our time is worth something, but many get caught up in the perception of a deal. Christmas, in so many ways, has begun encroaching on the fall season over the past few years. I feel for those seasonal workers who have to leave home to work on Thanksgiving. If we stopped participating in this buying frenzy, perhaps this practice of ignoring this holiday could be halted. There is nothing I need badly enough to make enduring hordes of people worth it. Great post.
I just went back and read what Maria wrote and I had remember being in my country, a young girl, and knowing that my neighboors and family were camping out in front of a very empty food market to receive a quota of about 5 green plantains or potatoes for family. That was also the case for getting a bit of meat once a month or milk. So sleeping on the streets to be first online to buy something was and is not something memorable repeating for me. I guess its part of why I don’t do black Fridays, it touches a nerve. I do apologize ahead of time to those who do follow the tradition. To each their own.
To be honest, I have never gone shopping on Black Friday, maybe because I grew up in another country with a political regime that wouldn’t allow for such things and a very bad economy too. And of course we had less material things available to expend money on, and NO credit cards, racks where non existent and stores were empty, contrary to what most of you ladies are used to seen in developed countries. One of the greatest things I have learned from this website is that experiences are worth more than material things. We are experiencing Hibachi meal on Thanksgiving event though it doesn’t sound like a regular way to celebrate it, what matters is that my children and I will be at the same table.
The American concept of “Black Friday” sales for the day after American Thanksgiving is now being promoted here in Canada in the retail world. Some refer to this American “Black Friday” as our version of Boxing Day sales. Either way – the notion of standing in line in the cold to race into a store to buy the left-overs that could not sell for full price….makes you wonder. I learned – apart from things that are truly needed – if there is something that you want, ask yourself if you could buy it full price (as in you want it that much) – would you? In other words, are you buying it for the rush of getting it on sale? Thinking you got a bargain? Sleeping in a parking lot in the cold to make sure you are the first in line when the doors open? To some this is obviously fun and “worth it”. To me, it is a sad commentary on our culture of “stuff” and “bargains.” Do they really need that super-sized electronics item? It’s not like people are lined up for the super-sale at the grocery store.
The heavily promoted retail push and the stress of trying to keep up with such makes a holiday something that many feel the best part is when it is over with. I’ve told my family and friends – I do not need anything so please no gifts for me and my budget does not allow gifts for everyone else either. I’d rather get together and take all the kids to the aquarium and have the memories and hopefully some decent pictures to remember it by too. Or cook a huge meal for my sister when she hosts her husband’s family – I keep busy in the kitchen so they can enjoy the time with their guests! (Really, her in-laws didn’t travel all this way to see me!) I get to help her without feeling overwhelmed by having to be overly-social! 🙂
I’ve only been a minimalist for a short time, and I try not to judge others through my outlook, truly. But seeing the excess, the waste, in material items and in time for “Black Friday” – I’m grateful for my new outlook. It certainly is a weight off my shoulders. Cheers!
Very much agree with not being focused on sales or bargain hunting is a weight off my shoulders. I enjoy getting a deal by simply not buying something 🙂