AKA TIPS + TRICKS FOR CONSCIOUS SPENDING
Black Friday comes earlier and earlier each year. And that means it’s more and more emails in our inboxes, and more and more posts about it on social media, for a longer time. We’re surely not the only ones that don’t love this.
So we wanted to put together this guide for anyone who gets overwhelmed with all the mails, ads, and deals.
…Or anyone who has pretty bad FOMO and wants to buys so much but can’t because of budget or other reasons.
…Or anyone who year after year regrets having bought things they shouldn’t.
(Which one do you identify with? All three?)
I (Sara) love shopping. Gift giving is my love language, and buying stuff for my family, my friends, myself, my business—it always fills me with joy! I love giving gifts to others, I like treating myself, I really enjoy shopping.
So these guide won’t be all Don’t buy this – Don’t buy that! —That’s now what we are about.
But we are about being mindful of the money we spend.
We are about not regretting purchases, not blindly filling up our cart and quickly swiping our card before we change our mind.
We are about doing smart purchases, about investing in things that will help us be better next year, and yes, having enough afterwards to still treat ourselves a bit.
So let’s jump to it, shall we?
1. Plan What You’re Buying
Instead of waiting for all the deals to come in and give you ideas of what you need, make a list beforehand of anything you actually need, or really want, and prioritize that.
In the past I’ve waited years to get a CRM subscription, hosting, or the premium WordPress page builder I wanted, because I knew I’d get an amazing deal during Black Friday. I waited, I got my deal, and it’s been totally worth it.
(Do note that it means you will may have to pay subscription fees every November on software you get—so, important to budget that in!)
That doesn’t mean you just ignore any email in your inbox. There might be things we haven’t thought of that will be good to get. But know what your priorities are, so your whole budget doesn’t go to other things!
2. Research and Budget
Yes, this is a boring one. But it pays off! If you know what you want to buy beforehand, and can estimate what it will cost you, you can compare that to the amount of money you have to spend total. And by knowing this, you’ll know if you’ll have any spare money to buy anything else!
That way you can still treat yourself to something spontaneous without regretting later that you went over your budget, or even worse, without running out of money to buy the things you really needed to buy during these sales.
3. Involve Your Future
A lot of programs and courses will have amazing deals, and it’s tempting to get them because you know you’ll use them at some point. Well, what if that point isn’t until 2-3 years from now? Would what they teach still be relevant? What are the chances of getting other deals, and other resources in the future that might help better then?
I rarely regret buying courses and programs, because education is always a good investment. But sometimes that money could have been spent better in something more relevant—even urgent—to where I’m at right now with my personal development and my business. And sometimes we have tighter budgets, so we really can’t afford spending money here and there. Instead, think about the next steps you’re taking in your business, in your education, in your personal life, and prioritize resources that will help you reach those next steps!
Next year, are you wanting to get certified to be a coach? Are you wanting to start a podcast? Do you want to open a membership, launch a new service, or take your product from Etsy to a bigger platform? Maybe you are thinking of leaving your full-time office job, to make your side-gig into your main income, but you still don’t have the confidence and could use some support dealing with negative mindsets?
Align your spendings with your goals, and the results will be much better!
4. Take Control of the Overwhelm
Whether you feel overwhelm because there’s just so much noise with all the ads and emails, or because you have bad FOMO and wish you could buy all the stuff in your inbox, remember you can control what you see.
If you already know what you’re buying, you don’t need to open other emails with other deals. You can set up the Promotion tab if your email provider has the option so that any emails with deals go there instead your main inbox. You can then choose the time you want to see them, or if you want to see them at all. You also have permission to just go to your Promotions tab, select all and delete. It’s up to you. You won’t be hurting other people’s feelings by not opening their email.
If you want to promote any deals yourself, make sure to schedule them to social media platforms ahead of time, so you don’t have to spend that much time yourself on social media during those days if you really don’t want to see other ads and promotions.
If you are sad that your budget is small this year, and you feel like everyone around you is buying all the things, remember that it’s not true. Social media mostly shows the wins, the highlights! It doesn’t showcase the sacrifices or the debts as much.
This article is not specific on buying, but the advice it has to overcome FOMO is great:
8 Ways To Shut Down Your FOMO.
If you are annoyed about the commercialization of the holidays and don’t want to be part of all the chaos, you can just disconnect. That’s what we are doing! We have our list of things we know we want to get, we researched them beforehand so we know when and where to get them, we’ll spend a couple of minutes getting them, and the rest of the day we’ll do something else not related to our inbox or social media feeds.
5. Think About Who You Are Supporting
If you want to take it one step further and be not only conscious of yourself but also of others, then take into account who you are buying for.
- If you can, buy from small shops instead of big corporation. Like buying on Etsy instead of Amazon.
- Buy from entrepreneurs in your circle, instead of the big names—unless the big name is someone in your network and you actually have a connection to them, because that makes it more personal.
- Buy through affiliate links from friends! You’ll be making their day.
- Buy local! Small businesses in your area will really appreciate it.
I hope these are useful and they help you plan your shopping better! Have fun next week, don’t stress about what you can’t buy, and take some time off if possible to disconnect from all the online noise of sales and deals.
Stargazed Studio won’t be having an exclusive Black Friday sale—we like taking the long weekend off.
Instead we will have some End of the Year offers that will open on Monday, November 21st and be available until the end of the year. As usual, we will be focusing on giving back, and instead of doing a Giveback day or week, like we have in the past, we’ll run our Giveback promotion through the end of the year as well.
