Black Friday? Not for me.

When Black Friday first happened in the UK I was really excited. I didn’t have a clue what it meant but I knew that Amazon was selling things cheap. As I recall I bought a new pair of headphones, some books, probably a DVD box set and a waterproof iPad case. You know, for those times I’m testing responsive web designs in the rain. Or the bath.

Once the excitement had worn off I realised that I had spent most of the day hitting refresh waiting for specific deals to come up. I think there were a bunch of things I wanted but missed out on. I can’t have wanted them that much because I can’t remember now what they were. I had a vague feeling of regret but I have that most days anyway so I didn’t think too much more about it.

The following year Black Friday seemed to have turned into a Black Week. I devoted even more time ‘saving money’. By which, of course, I mean ‘wasting money’ on rubbish I absolutely did not need. Worse, as more businesses got in on the idea I noticed things on sale that I had previously bought at full price mere weeks before. I ended that Black Friday with an even stronger feeling of regret which covered:

• the things I had bought in deals;
• the things I hadn’t managed to buy in deals;
• the things that I had bought at various times over the last six months which were now in deals.

I also lost some respect for smaller, independent producers who were discounting things I had previously bought at full price to support them. Yes, I wanted to buy the things but I’ll pay a higher price to an independent than I would to Amazon. They didn’t need to drop prices to get my custom and now that they had, I found myself wishing I hadn’t bought the things in the first place. I’m not naïve I understand that people need to play the game to stay in business. But I felt, or wanted to believe, that these independents shouldn’t have to stoop to this level. And then I felt bad about myself again for having a negative attitude.

So this year I decided: No more! I will not buy anything reduced for Black Friday or ‘Black Friday Week’ or whatever it is. If there’s a thing I was going to buy at a certain price and that thing gets reduced in the name of Black Friday I will not buy it at all. Who’s with me!? Anyone?

Oh, and if this sort of thing resonates with you I highly recommend following The Minimalists on Twitter. Or, you know, me.