How do I avoid Holiday shopping traps?

Speaker A00:00:28

Hey, do you ever bargain with yourself during the holidays? I got this question into the show and I said this is a perfect thing to talk about in our series today.Ralph, every year I promise myself I won't overspend, but somehow I still end up with credit card regret in January. How do I shop smarter this season without missing out? It's that fear of missing out, isn't it? You might be feeling it too. And overspending.Guilty as charged. I've done that way too many times. Social media just pulls you into that and it just sucks you in like you gotta have it.The truth is holiday shopping is both exciting, but it can be dangerous. And the truth is stores are built to make you overspend. These social media giants are designed to help you or to make you overspend, but with a plan.And that's what we're going to talk about on today's show. You can flip the script and win the season.

Speaker B00:01:16

This is financially Confident Christian, your daily dose of gospel, grounded insight and faith driven tips to help you break the cycle of financial shame with confidence.

Speaker A00:01:28

Welcome to the show. I'm Ralph. This is your daily show that helps you break that cycle of financial shame with confidence.And we're continuing our series trying not to go into debt during the holidays. And today we're going to jump into how to avoid that trap of overspending. And Abby, my producer, put together some statistics for us today.And these are just fascinating to me. Did you know this? Americans have $1.2 trillion in credit card debt? That is a staggering number. If you're like most people, you own a portion of that.I know at times I've certainly owned a portion of that. Listen to this statistic. This one rocked my world. 83% of Americans say they overspend at least sometimes. Listen, I'm right there with them.Raise my hand. Guilty as charged. But they then we asked ourselves, what is the main reason people overspend? Really? Two things we found.Inflation, costs are going up and the rising cost of living. And it's pushing people to spend more than they intended. And this is a quote from Dave Ramsey, another financial guru.Him and I don't always see eye to eye, but I am 100% in the same court as him. And when he says this, he says if you don't tell your money where to go, it will decide for you.Yeah, that thing will have a map of its own and it's going to take you in a direction you might not agree with. So it's all about having that plan. So let's get back to our question today. And that's Ralph, how do I shop smarter this season without missing out?Well, I've got some great ideas. What I'm going to call my smart shopping ideas for today.Number one thing, a lot of people don't do this, but I'm going to tell you, lean into this one. Make a list. Go and get a piece of paper and a pen or do it right on your phone. Start with the names of the people you want to buy for.Just put them all down. Here's all the people I got to buy for. Because when you see it, then you can plan for that. And right next to their name.Now, this may sound like you're being a little judgmental, but put a number next to them. What is your budget for that person?Because the truth is, if you don't do this, I can guarantee you this, without a plan, you're going to make those impulse purchases. You're going to make those impulse buys.And if you're making those impulse buys for most people, that means you're putting the plastic down, you're running up that credit card debt, and you get into what the listener said today. You get into that January regret. Listen, I've been there, done that. It's not a fun thing. So start with the number one thing. Make a list.Second thing, a lot of people don't think about this. It's Abby and I were talking before the show. It's so easy when you're scrolling on Facebook or on TikTok or on one of those other social media apps.You see something that pop up, you're like, oh, I got to have this. This is something I absolutely have to have. But how often do you look around and compare that with other places?A great example of that for me is Amazon in the United States. Amazon is super simple. If I want something, I click on Amazon. One click. Oh, here's my must haves for today.I might be looking for something completely different, but as soon as I open up the Amazon app, bam. Here's my essentials for today. Next thing you know, 15 minutes later, I've got a basket full of stuff.I got a whole shopping cart full of stuff I didn't really need, I wasn't really looking for. But when you do that, compare, there are some other sites you can look at. Walmart. My wife does a great job of this.Whenever she's looking for something, she doesn't just go to Amazon, she looks at Walmart. She looks at Target. Hey, there's, temu, there's Etsy, there's all kinds of places that you can go and look for things.Don't get sucked into that first thing that you see. Because listen, let me tell you something right, a little Ralph rant right now. Social media is not designed to help you connect with other people.Social media is designed to make you spend money. It's really that simple. That's who makes money in social media, Advertisers. Because they're trying to get you to spend money.Well, if you click on that ad and you go buy that product and you don't compare it to other places online, you could be losing a ton of money. There might be other places that could save you money. So second thing, compare online.Third thing, maybe you're one of those folks that says, you know what, Ralph, I just have a hard time managing that credit card. Well, here's a great thing you can do. Use some cash envelopes. You might be thinking, well that's old school. My grandmother used to do that.Yeah, but guess what? Grandma was pretty effective. Wasn't cheap. See, I think there's a connection with seeing that money.If you take, let's just say we make that list and there's 10 people we gotta buy for. And let's say we're gonna spend $20 on each person. We'll get 10 envelopes, write their names on the front and put $20 in each envelope.Well, guess what? You're gonna physically see that money when that envelope's gone. No more buy in. That builds accountability.So if you have a hard time balancing that, keeping that budget in check, consider the envelope method. Next thing, avoid those traps.Like I said, it's so easy when you go online, you see that one day sale or only three left, or at least my favorite one, Amazon essentials. Truth is, on Amazon, everything is essential, isn't it? It's so easy when you go in and you click on that. Amazon's not the only one.I see it on Walmart, I see it on Target, I see it on Lowe's, you know, the Home Depot, all those kind of places. Here's another big trap. That Black Friday sale. Oh, this is a must have you fear of missing out.But oftentimes a lot of people don't realize that that Black Friday sale is designed to make you spend money. It's not necessarily something you need and it might not be the best price. So that's another thing. Avoid those traps.And here's the big takeaway for today. Stay peaceful. This is a Christian finance show. God doesn't call us to chaos.He if you live your life in chaos and you get that January regret of those credit card debts and you're outspending your budget, you're not going to live in joy. Because see, here's the truth. Wise planning protects your joy. Do you want to have joy this holiday season? That's what this whole series is about.How do I get to joy? Well, stay peaceful. Which leads me to our Bible verses. And guess what?We've got two Bible verses for you today because we couldn't decide which one we liked best. But let's get right into the first one. The first one is Proverbs chapter 25, verse 28.And it says this like, a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self control. Well, that's like hit me over the head with a mallet, isn't it? But what's the scripture telling us?If you don't have strong walls, if you don't have that plan, if you don't have those boundaries, it's saying you lack self control. See, the big takeaway from today is have that self control. Let's get to our second Bible verse.This is First Corinthians, chapter 14, verse 33 says this. For God is not a God of disorder, but of peace. God is telling us himself. I want you to live in peace. I don't want you to live in chaos.I don't want you to feel like that you have this regret. God doesn't want you to celebrate the birth of Christ and then have this, Jane regret. Like, why did I do this? Have joy in the season.Well, how about we pray together right now? Father God, as we prepare for the season, give us strength, Lord, to exercise self control while we're shopping.Help us to build that list and understand what we're doing. Give us peace instead of so much pressure so many of us feel during the season of the holidays. That's the one thing people say to me all the time.They say, I feel so much pressure. Well, Lord, help us to dissuade that pressure.Help us to live in your peace and your joy and give us wisdom to steward our finances faithfully, especially during the holiday season. We ask all these things in the name of Jesus. Amen. All right, well, let's get to our one action item for today.Just one thing that I want you to focus in on today. Before your next purchase, I want you to just take a pause and just ask yourself this really simple question. Is this on my list?It's really that simple. When you're getting ready to pull the trigger, when it's in your cart, you're getting ready to check out, just ask yourself that question.Is this on my list? And if it's not, here's my challenge for you today. Just pause 24 hours. Just let it sit in that car. It's not going anywhere.Let it stew a little bit, you know, like a nice stew you're making around the holidays. Let's it cook a little while. I'm going to tell you something. You may not go back to it, but you go back 24 hours, you're like, later. Hmm.I didn't really need that, did I? All right, so here's the make that list today. As Santa says, check it twice. If you don't celebrate Santa, I'm cool with that.But that's a little funny thing. Santa says check it twice, but you got to make the list in the first place. Have a holiday without credit card regret. I encourage you.Go be a financially confident Christian today. Stay financially savvy. God bless you. And I'll see you tomorrow on the show.