The One Where I Rant on Consumerism, Shopping, Frugality and Deal Blogs

Before you jump in the car today and hit the stores have a lookie here.

Is is just me or has the shopping madness just gone too far?
Yes, everyone acknowledges the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, as the beginning of the Mad Shopping Dash for Christmas.
And Stores no longer wait until after Halloween is over to start putting up their Christmas displays and merchandise.  That's been true for years.....

But now, Stores have extended the Holiday shopping frenzy to include Veteran's Day!
Use to be advertisers would run Veteran's Day sales for things like mattresses and some housewares(since Thanksgiving was right around the corner and you might need dishes/cooking stuff for the big day's meal).
Throw in a little winter clothing and you'd have a smallish special ad to snag shoppers who were off from work for Veteran's Day.

At least to me, is seems like the major retailers are using Veteran's Day to start the Christmas selling season instead of waiting until Black Friday.  ToysRUs has HUGE ads/deals for Veteran's Day.  They sell toys, so they depend on the Christmas season revenues to stay in business the other 11 months of the year.  But when did Veteran's Day become a time to go spend large sums of money on toys?
The line on the highway to get into the TRU parking lot is insane on Veteran's Day.....same madness can be seen in the Wal-Mart here around the toy aisles.

I am a frugal person.
I use coupons and shop sales, etc.
I check out the "deal" blogs often all year long....not talking about the grocery deals, just the 'stuff' deals.
I will tell you I've gotten a few good deals by finding offers on "deal" blogs.
Many deal blogs think of themselves as frugal blogs as well....because they are saving their readers money when they take advantage of the deals they tout.

But.....frugality is NOT only about saving money because true frugality is NOT about spending money!
And I feel that many of these "deal" blogs have the reverse affect and encourage some people to spend MORE money.  People who don't NEED an item but see it for a steal from a "deal" blog post will go and spend money, when they would not have w/out that post or that special price.
And theses people would have continued to lead their lives just as well without that item/deal.

Deal blogs have a place but I truly believe that they are fueling shopping addicts need for a "sales high".
And I know what I am talking about because I use to wander around in stores looking for clearance signs/racks and I brought many an item home for cheap that I didn't need.  I have felt the "shopping high" and it's quite a drug....

But from this point until the end of Dec. I am better off dumping almost every deal blog out of my favorites and not visiting them.
Because when I do go to them, all I find is massive quantities of "deals", so many that it overloads my senses.  And I find it difficult to weed through this huge crush of deals to find the one or two nuggets that I want or need.
Because I don't buy massive quantities of stuff for the Holidays anymore.
Just a few choice things.
And the bulk of what is being hawked on the deal blogs is not a deal for me.
And the deal blogs start to all look the same(same deals)and it's hard to distinguish them from the major retailers ads/deals either.

And another thing......if you are buying "deals" online from a faceless business and the items you are buying are being made halfway around the world and being shipped from this same place and no one in your local community is prospering from your purchase, it may still be a deal for your wallet but it's no deal for the planet nor a deal for your local businesses, that employ your local citizens, as long as they stay in business.  And if you don't support your local businesses at all by spending your money there, they will go away.  And the jobs will go away.  And the jobless will put more stress on your government supported safety nets(food stamps, unemployment, etc.).  And then your taxes will go up.  And that online deal that saved you so much money will cost you more in other ways, than you ever thought in the end.

I'm not saying you need to stop buying from anyone EXCEPT a local business.  No, I am not a tree-hugger, extremist.
I think life is all about balance.
And even when you shop, you can find balance.
So go get some "deals" online(but only things you truly need/want!)but also spread your consumer net wide.....go spend money with local merchants too.
We have 2 Chinese/Japanese restaurants in our teeny tiny town.  Some things are prepared better at one, other things at the other.  Both are locally owned small businesses.
So we alternate which restaurant we eat at and spread our consumer dollars out between them.
That way we support both and neither goes out of business.
And we continue to have a choice in where we want to dine when we want Chinese/Japanese food.
Having choices is cool and so is keeping jobs in your neighborhood.

Just some food for thought from what spills outta my brain....

Sluggy