Are you a Sucker for SALES?

The other day I brought my son to Toys R Us to spend a gift card that he got from his uncle for his birthday.  I was excited for him.  Even as an adult, I still love Toys R Us.  Walking in and seeing all of the fun things and thinking about what my children would like is such a nice feeling.  There is nothing better than buying gifts for our children.  I love seeing their little faces light up, knowing that I bought something that they will really enjoy.

Well, that day that we walked into the store, they were having a store wide sale.  Most of the big name brand toys were buy one and get the second for half off.  My 6 year old son wanted only 2 things – Legos and Transformers.  And guess what?  They were on Sale!  We went in with a plan.   I told my son that he had $25 to spend and that we could not go over that.  I wanted to teach him that there are limits.  But when we got into the store and I saw all the sales, the temptation was so strong to buy MORE than what we had intended to.

The lego display was in the front of the store and my son picked out a lego set that he liked.  I then picked out another one to go with it since it was half off.  Then we went to check out the Transformers and my son picked out one that he liked.  I then proceeded to pick out a second transformer because of the sale.  So, we wound up with 4 toys in the cart and they were definitely over $25.

I tried to get my son to pick either one, the legos or transformers and he reluctantly picked, but I knew that he wanted both.  I thought about what my intentions were and that if I purchased all the toys just because of the sale, I was actually being really greedy.  I knew my son wanted one lego set and one transformer, so I decided that we would put the second toys away and forget about the sale.

But man was it hard!  Why do we get sucked into these sales even though we don’t NEED the extra stuff?  Does this happen to you?  When you see a good sale do you go for it?  Do you battle with yourself?  Why is it so hard to just say no and be responsible with money?

A lot of times we don’t realize that these so called “sales” can really cause a dent in our wallets.  We probably don’t even need the sale item.  Yes, there are times when sales are great and I do enjoy taking advantage of them when I find them, especially if it is something that we need.  But there are also times when I get tempted with a sale for items that I may want, but don’t actually need.

If you also are one to struggle with SALES, please share.  I would love to hear your thoughts on this subject!