why places like HotUKDeals and Moneysavingexpert.com's Grabbit Board are bad for you

Deals are great, sales are wonderful, no one is disputing that.  What is not thrifty is buying something simply because it’s on sale/cheap.  If it’s not something you already planned on buying or budgeted for in the first place, then the retailer has simply accomplished its mission of hooking you and making you spend money with them.

Both HotUKDeals and the Grabbit board from MSE are fabulous places to find stuff really cheap.  However, I recommend only checking them once you’ve decided you need to buy something.  Don’t just browse for general inspiration, or you will find yourself clicking “buy” just because it looks like you are saving money. It’s not saving money if you never intended to buy it in the first place!  This works in supermarkets too.  Those Jaffa Cakes that weren’t on your list and you never intended buy until you saw they were only £1 are still an extra pound spent – saving money didn’t make them free.  Now if you intended on buying biscuits and spending £1 anyway on a cheaper brand, then by all means get them, but I hope you see the difference.

For instance, my husband G desperately needed a winter coat.  None to be had in our local charity shops and I, by my own admittance, kept missing the best bargains on eBay.  So when Tesco announced a sale of all coats for £20 starting yesterday, we leapt at it.  They were also selling knitwear and other wintery stuff for £5/£10, which while really tempting to also grab, we didn’t buy any of that stuff.  I don’t need any more clothes, so even though they were a really great price, nothing was bought besides the coat – the thing we actually needed and were already looking to purchase.

I hope this post doesn’t sound too much like a lecture, and I know a lot of the above will be common sense to some people.  But I wrote it because I don’t really understand the mentality of some people posting mega deals, buying them ‘just because’, and the professing to save money!