Sale items
The coronavirus pandemic has had a great impact on the retail sector. Stores had to close for a couple of months and were left with tons of unsold items whose prices went down the minute businesses reopened. Add the online sales and you are a sure victim. But unless you really need a certain item, buying it cheaper is not a real deal when could be saving that money instead.
“It is easy to go down the online-shopping rabbit hole at a time when other distractions are few,” warns Patrick Gourley, assistant professor of economics and business analytics at the University of New Haven. “Try to stick to purchases that you would have bought anyway, and enjoy sales responsibly. For example, if you have never bought a pair of noise-canceling headphones, this is probably not the best time to do so. On the other hand, if you thought in January that your winter coat needed replacing at the end of the winter, take advantage of some of the crazy deals. Just don’t go overboard and try to buy yourself out of the funk many of us are feeling.”
While we’re on the subject of online shopping, here are 7 Common Online Shopping Mistakes That Could Leave You Broke.
Charitable donations
Helping others is always a good thing. However, in this time of crisis, you need to trim your expenses as much as possible and this, unfortunately, means you need to take a closer look at your charitable contributions.
“It may not seem very nice to lower your monthly charitable donations, but the reality is that if you don’t put your finances first, you will end up unable to give anything at all,” says Morgan Taylor, chief marketing officer at LetMeBank. “Keep yourself economically strong first and foremost, so that you are in a position to help where you can.” In other words, this is the financial equivalent of putting on your own oxygen mask before assisting others.
