BostonHedonist
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- Sep 1, 2011
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Regarding paying full price vs sale shopping / overbuying / wants vs needs
We all want to be content with what we buy, and take steps that are likely make us more content with what we buy. Maybe defining a need clearly before filling it, maybe shopping more bricks and mortar shops so you can really handle the stuff and judge fit, maybe buying at the beginning of the season and paying full price to ensure we get what we want with plenty of time to wear it in the near term.
But there's a (slight) risk that you can use the fact that you paid full price as its own justification for buying / being content with something that you're not really content with. Paying full price can become a badge of prestige, or (weirdly) of being wise consumer. "Well I don't shop sales anymore, I just buy what I want at retail and I'm happier."
Not suggesting everyone wait for 90% sales/beg NMWA for incremental discounts. Just saying--there's a psychological flip side to the sport sale shopping compulsion.
There's this whole notion of "perceived value" when it comes to the purchases we make, and nowhere can you see as much variance as in clothes shopping. There's form, there's function and then there's that intangible "x" factor: what's in or whats new or what's on sale today, etc.
The more years I put behind me, the more I've realized the value of having set criteria for purchases before I get on the hunt. Otherwise that "third quality" can pull you in a million directions. Still, I'll get caught up in it when Mr. P drops hit 70%. But for the most part I already know what I'm looking for - at least roughly - before going shopping. I try to ignore everything else and execute my purchase list as efficiently and joylessly as possible. Joyless, 'cause God help the person who gets off on the spending itself.
But paying full price adding to the perceived value of something.... I've never had that experience. If I can pay less for the same thing, I'll do it every time. If I want it badly enough, I'll get it now whatever it costs.
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