Black Friday has become a big shopping day in Canada, although it’ll never rival the spectacle put on by our southern neighbours. Many Canadian consumers are excitedly gearing up to get bargains on electronics, housewares, and other assorted goodies.
But too many Canadians are getting caught up in the excitement, and making poor choices in the heat of the moment.
Electronics are a perfect example. We all know people who have upgraded perfectly good television sets, tablets, or computers because they got a good deal on Black Friday. This is not smart long-term financial planning.
There’s an easy way to avoid doing that. If you weren’t planning on replacing an item before Black Friday, ignore all the sales. Buying something just because it’s cheap is a pretty crummy reason.
Others spend hours in line just to save $50 or $100 on some item, completely ignoring the value of their time. Sure, I’ll concede the average person waking up at 4 a.m. to take advantage of Black Friday sales probably wasn’t going to spend that time working, but at the same time, we all only have so many productive hours in a day.
Many argue we already have too much stuff, and this is a major reason why so many Canadian consumers are plagued with debt.
Ultimately, Black Friday sales come down to this. Think carefully before you buy something, no matter how good the deal is. Some deals are worth taking advantage of. But most aren’t. It’s that simple.
