Where would you go on a shopping spree?
The year was 2016, and I did go on a shopping spree then. Several things contributed for it to happen. I was in an international trip to the USA. Electronics in Brazil were very expensive then, and still continue to be. But not only that, clothes and personal items were not much affordable too. The dollar conversion wasn’t so bad. At some point during the trip I was stopping by Wisconsin where the sales tax was only 5%. And that trip happened during Thanksgiving. So, to finish with a flourish, we decided to spend Black Friday at a Best Buy and shopping at outlets.
Repressed desires
Our trip started a few weeks before that. We stayed the whole time just postponing buying anything because we were waiting for the perfect moment. That, clearly, was a mistake. We saw a cool t-shirt, or a nice pair of jeans, but refraining from buying it. Our capitalist cravings were just more and more getting repressed. All this contributed for the perfect storm. When Black Friday arrived, we entered a frenzy. We had an irrational need to buy everything we saw in front of us.
In the end, it was fun
But I won’t deny it, it was fun. We weren’t alone, I had another Brazilian friend with us that was in the same vibe. There was an American friend too, that found the whole thing hilarious. Even today, looking back on that day, we have good laughs. In the end we bought only things that we were planning. OK, maybe a few more items than I needed. Probably I had enough clothes for the whole next year, but I loved each one of them. Besides, I payed much less than I would have paid in Brazil, so financially it made sense.
What about now?
Now, the question is where I would go today on a shopping spree. I don’t think I would do such a thing again. Mainly because I don’t think I need anything so desperately that I need to go shopping like this. I don’t judge, been there, done that. It’s fun doing it when you are younger and have spent many years repressing your buying urges. But when you get older somehow your focus change, I think you start giving importance to other things.