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Staying Out of Stores

December 6th, 2016 at 10:15 pm

In the last few years, I have done less and less shopping in stores. And this counts for Christmas, too! It is amazing how much less I spend when I avoid the stores. The displays are so tempting and inviting and there is ALWAYS a deal. The less I am in the store, the less I spend. It is directly correlated based on my own experience.

I think not having the newspaper coming to our door, reducing our mail and catalog delivery, and unsubscribing myself from store email lists have also made a difference.

Target is one of my favorite stores. I honestly love nearly everything about it! Before we moved it was my primary grocery store. I scanned the ads almost religiously and inevitably found something in the ad that was a good deal so I'd add it to the list. And honestly, it was usually something we would use. However, we didn't always need it right then. I could have probably waited for the next sale. And during this time of year it was easy to add some of the deals to my gift list just because why not it is so cheap!

Now that I shop online, I feel I'm a little more aware of what I'm buying. I'm not entirely sure why that is. It may be simple because I have a list, I find the item, add to cart and checkout. It's easy to do that on specialty sites and Amazon. If you are trying to meet a threshold for free shipping, then you are likely ending up with more than you need.

I did have to shop for a couple items in the stores, primarily for stocking stuffers and my nieces gifts. The nieces gifts were themed and had a lot of different things to them, so that meant going to different places. I'm hoping to avoid that next year!

So far our out of pocket cost for Christmas gifts is just over $500. I budgeted $600, so we are right on target!

Do you shop more online or in stores? Do you spend less if you stay out of the retail stores?

Posted in Spending | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Staying Out of Stores”

  1. rob62521 Says:
    December 6th, 2016 at 10:28 pm 1481063315
    1481063315

    I think you are smart to avoid stores as much as possible. It is very tempting! There's a reason most retailers spend big bucks to figure out how to get us to spend. I'm with you...I try to stay out of stores. I do our grocery shopping, but it is usually just the list and usually the same stuff we use each week. Not very exciting, but routine helps. I did do extra shopping for baking stuff since some of my Christmas gifts are baked goods plus the stuff we put in the church bazaar. Most of the yarn and crochet thread I get at thrift stores or from my church. I did buy a knitting loom retail a few months ago, but I use yarn from the church's stash to make the hats we are giving away to schools.

  2. MonkeyMama Says:
    December 6th, 2016 at 11:55 pm 1481068505
    1481068505

    I rarely ever go into any stores. (I rarely do either kind of shopping, since husband takes care of most groceries and errands). I think there is a huge correlation. Ignorance is bliss. If I don't shop, then I don't what all is out there that I could be buying. I've probably never spent as little on retail as I did in 2016. We are still trending downwards, but the crazy thing is that we never shopped much in the first place.

  3. VS_ozgirl Says:
    December 7th, 2016 at 10:14 am 1481105642
    1481105642

    I plan what to buy before leaving and usually aim to do all the shopping in the one trip and turn it into a fun event; which it is anyway because of the Christmas music and atmosphere. But yeah like you I generally tend to avoid the shops - simply get in there and out, and that's it.

  4. Livingalmostlarge Says:
    December 8th, 2016 at 05:46 am 1481175995
    1481175995

    I hate shopping so I don't spend much. I mostly grocery shop. Everything else bothers me. It definitely helps spending

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