Buy Nothing Day
November 24th, 2005 | by mbhunter |I heard about Buy Nothing Day (which is tomorrow, Friday, November 25th, 2005, aka Black Friday 2005) at Sparing Change, a brand-new personal finance blog where author Kassy talks about “[her] adventures in embracing the frugal life and reducing [her] debt to nothingness.” Eight posts thus far, but this looks like it will have lots of good stuff!
She talks about how Black Friday affects her family’s Thanksgiving plans this year because a family member has to work early tomorrow at a mall.
This puts a new light on Black Friday for me. I admit that I’m pro-Black-Friday — if there’s a day to get great deals, it’s tomorrow. At the same time, I wonder if I’d be so gung-ho about Black Friday if my family were shortchanging commitments to get things accomplished for the holidays because they had to put in extra hours in retail. Probably not. Our family doesn’t work retail, so the sacrifice on the other side of the counter was a blind spot for me.
So, I thank Kassy for sharing this on her blog.
Not going out shopping tomorrow is always an option. Yes, there are deals, but again, if you don’t need them, they’re not deals at all. Plus, you’ll be fighting with a lot of other customers for those really good deals.
While supplies last, of course.
4 Responses to “Buy Nothing Day”
By Kassy on Nov 25, 2005 | Reply
Hey there, thanks for the mention. I used to be pro Black Friday myself until it started affecting my dinner
But last year I managed to do all my Xmas shopping online and saved by shopping only closeout sections, this year I’m hoping to do the same. Good luck if you venture out!
By mbhunter on Nov 25, 2005 | Reply
Hi Kassy, you’re welcome!
I was a slug this morning and missed my $378 laptop opportunity. Oh well!
Hope that your Thanksgiving lunch was a good time for everyone!
By My Boaz's Ruth on Nov 28, 2005 | Reply
My husband is also in retail (trying to get out) but he welcomes the day after Thanksgiving! IF the store doesn’t do well that day, it usually ends up meeting cut hours for the rest of the Christmas holidays. They would MUCH rather people come shop and buy from them on the day before Thanksgiving, and all of these specials are just ways of getting people to do just that.
By mbhunter on Nov 28, 2005 | Reply
MBR, that’s a great observation. I’m glad that you guys look at it in a positive light.
A very good friend of mine is a store manager in retail, and he’s trying to get out too. It’s a lot of scrambling all around because we consumers are always looking for a deal. We’ll pray for greener job pastures for you.
Thanks for reading!