Comments on: These Commercials Are Making Me Batty!

By: Carnival of Personal Finance #267 @ Beating Broke

Carnival of Personal Finance #267 @ Beating Broke — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:34:43 +0000

[...] J. Money from Budgets Are Sexy presents These Commercials Are Making Me Batty!. [...]

By: J. Money

J. Money — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 18:35:01 +0000

Haha yeah I hear ya on that. I’m pretty good at avoiding everything on my way to the clearance racks, but every now and then I see that glittery “look at me! look at me!” sign and I get suckered in. It’s a good thing I’m great at returning items later once I’ve realized what I’ve done ;)

By: Kevin I

Kevin I — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 21:02:44 +0000

I’m much more susceptible to in-store deals than advertising. Maybe it’s because no matter how good a deal something on TV is, I still have to get up, put the kid in the car, drive over, find the room in the budget etc. My laziness is bigger than my gullibility.

But in-store stuff gets me all the time, there was a T-shirt I wanted at a shop the other day and it was $20 alone, but it was two for $35. I picked up a second shirt I wanted, but had no intentions of buying, by the time I came down from that bargain high and realized I didn’t save $5 but instead spent $15 it was too late.

My discipline for groupon or living social and the like is to only spring for something if it replaces something more expensive. Tickets to a museum we want to visit that are $20 cheaper then the plans I already had for the day? Sure. A better restaurant deal to use on a date night? awesome. Win-win. It’s when it becomes an extra added-on something that it starts getting dangerous for me, and it’s just been a discipline of cooling down from the one-day-only frenzy.

By: J. Money

J. Money — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 01:31:04 +0000

Those foreclosure/cash for gold ads are the WORST! Check out this one I saw last year: (*vomits in mouth*) http://www.budgetsaresexy.com/2009/02/cash-for-gold-usa-should-shoot-itself/

By: finallygettingtoeven.com

finallygettingtoeven.com — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 00:40:08 +0000

There is a commercial on TV about foreclosure homes (I notice it because it’s what I do, otherwise I wouldn’t pay a bit of attention), anyway, in the commercial the announcer states “Anyone that doesn’t already own a home may call today, all others may call tomorrow”.

Oh come on, do they really think we listen to that? They are trying to make ‘non-homeowners’ feel like they are something special when we all know that anyone can call anytime and they will talk to us all the same. Once again, the ‘fear factor’…call us first before the rest of the world comes running at full speed and you miss out…ugh!

By: J. Money

J. Money — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 23:37:32 +0000

@Holly @ Shopaholly – Advertising is taught in school – The best ways to Advertise and market your own business!!! haha… I minored in marketing actually, you learn all about it there ;)
@Khaleef @ KNS Financial – Haha… i’ve given up on the chances to win a bag of woot :) the only time i got close my page froze and all was sold out by the time it went through. maybe they don’t even exist!?
@Frances – OH man, those seminars/conferences are a whole other story. I got suckered into a few of those in my past and learned to never again!

By: Link love (Powered by scarves and hot water bottles) « Musings of an Abstract Aucklander

Sat, 17 Jul 2010 03:50:23 +0000

[...] Money wonders if coupon and deal sites are really worth it. While I can see how it would be tempting to spend on stuff you don’t normally buy, but [...]

By: Frances

Frances — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 19:27:59 +0000

I agree wholeheartedly. I have become very skeptical about anything that could even possibly be construed as “trying to sell” something to me. It can affect the credibility of the person involved, for example, a conference or seminar. I will walk out of one if I feel a speaker is shamelessly self-promoting. I understand advertising is a necessary evil and try to use it as a “teachable moment” for my grandkids to help in their critical thinking.

By: Khaleef @ KNS Financial

Khaleef @ KNS Financial — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 15:51:43 +0000

I definitely agree with you on the whole “spend your $ and save!!!” approach! It is easy to get sucked in to paying for something we don’t need in order to get imaginary savings.

It’s great if you already planned to buy the product, but many times it gets us when we weren’t even looking to shop!

I know what you mean about Woot. I would actually stay up until 1:00 am (I’m on the east coast), refreshing my browser to see what the new deal would be. I was afraid of waking to an amazing deal that was sold out – especially a bag of crap! But I haven’t been to the site in ages – for the same reason as you (ok, ok, I just looked while typing this comment)!

By: Holly @ Shopaholly

Holly @ Shopaholly — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 08:08:44 +0000

I love Groupon but only because I’m savvy enough to not snap everything up. It only recently launched in Aberdeen so there have been quite limited offers but I can also buy vouchers for London and do cheap stuff on my next visit!

I actually think that there should be some education about how advertising works in school. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard people talk about “bargains” that they only bought because there was a saving. It’s pretty insane thinking but I get it because I used to be insane!