Having a budget, paying cash as much as possible, and visiting the store two to three weeks before your purchase can save you from impulse buying.
This Friday, November 26, is Black Friday, the day that opens the Christmas shopping season and is marked by sales and promotions in stores. It is accompanied by Cyber Monday (Monday, November 29), which is the turn of online offers.
To take advantage of discount opportunities without regretting it later, there are a number of mistakes consumers can avoid, explains the economist Jorge Calderón Salazar. Take note:
1. It is a mistake not to establish a shopping budget. You must go to the physical or online store knowing what your spending limit is, to withdraw on time.
2. Don’t go without identify the source of the resources you will use To do the shopping. For example, decide in advance if you will use your savings, part of your salary or the credit card (the latter being a debt for which you will have to pay interest and other conditions).
3. If you decide to use the card, keep in mind the debt conditions (interest rate, payment time).
4. If you got here and managed to overcome all the previous points, Calderón suggests that you take the time to compare between offers. “Don’t spend impulsively, know what you buy; Compare the items or services you are interested in among various providers ”.
How to know that we are facing a real Black Friday offer?
If you are already in the process of comparing prices, use these recommendations:
1. Two or three weeks before visit the places where you have identified what you want to buy. “This is because some businesses raise the price previously, and at the time of the ‘offer’ what they have done is give you a ‘discount’ to leave it at the price that it has always been. Do your research, take your time ”.
2. Ask about the forms of payment that are offered, terms, discount for payment in cash or card surcharges.
You must go to the physical or online store knowing what your spending limit is, to withdraw on time.
3. Also check if there is home delivery, and if this is with or without a surcharge.
4. If you buy online at the Cyber Monday, make sure the reliability of the site through which you will make the purchase, as your data may be at risk. In the same way, check on the provider and the comments of other users about the shopping experience in that place.
I want to buy it, but I’m not sure …
Some discard questions to help you know if you are buying out of necessity, pleasure, or compulsion are:
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Do I need to buy it? What if I don’t buy it? How will my quality of life be affected if I decide not to buy it? If the answer is that nothing would happen, you know what to do.
“It is important that you ask yourself these questions, because that reduce impulse buying to which many consumers are faced in these seasons ”, points the economist Calderón. “This helps a lot to avoid going into debt beyond its limits, as well as not buying unnecessary items or services.”
Many of the purchases are directed to electronics, clothing and liquor. But you do not have to necessarily dabble in this trend, but you can take advantage of it to do your Christmas shopping, with a prior budget and a list of people to whom you will make a gift.
How to properly handle deferred payments in this type of purchases, if they are made on credit?
Be careful. “People on many occasions do not dimension this form of payment, they send everything deferred, and although it may be a small purchase in amount, when many are added at the same time in the deferred mode, this will complicate their payment flow when it touches cancel those little added values.
Pay cash as much as you can, and if it differs, keep track of the amounts to know your monthly payment and until which month you will be paying them; as Calderón says, this comes to be later one of the main consumer headaches. (I)
Paul is a talented author and journalist with a passion for entertainment and general news. He currently works as a writer at the 247 News Agency, where he has established herself as a respected voice in the industry.
