I was at a consignment store yesterday to buy a pair of jeans.  It was an enormous store—about the size of a K-Mart—and it had hundreds of pairs.  Most were from $2 to $10, and since jeans are just a utilitarian item for me, that seemed to be exactly in my price range.  

I tried on several pairs that clearly weren’t going to work, until I found one that almost worked.  They were too baggy and about 3 inches too long, but they were a huge improvement over the way-too-tight and way-too-short pairs I’d tried on previously.   I was trying to convince myself that they didn’t look that bad, when a comment from my relative and fellow blogger Hattigrace came to mind:

“If I don’t LOVE it when I first put it on, LEAVE it. Kind of the BLINK thing. I start talking myself into why I should buy it (good price, etc etc), then I get it home and it ends up in the hand-me-down pile!”

I realized I was doing exactly what Hattigrace described—talking myself into buying something that wasn’t quite right just because it was a really good deal!  I took the jeans off, put them back on the rack and left the store without buying a thing.

It Only Seems Like a Good Deal
This was not my first trip to a consignment store.  Oh, no.  When I used to travel to central Florida for conventions, I would bring an extra suitcase to carry back all the goodies I would buy at my favorite thrift store. 

The store was truly addictive.  On the weekends, which is when I would be there, they would sell anything in the store for $2.  I once bought an Ann Taylor suit and a Tahari suit for $2 each.  Another time I lugged home 18 new treasures, all for $36.  I gave myself virtual pats on the back all the way to baggage claim because I had been so “frugal.”

Now this treasure trove included some basic, quite useable items, like several pairs of high quality black pants, some designer black shoes and a few nice tops that all looked great and I loved instantly.  However, my newly-purchased trousseau also contained quite a few items that were trendy and interesting, but unfortunately not my style:  black pants with embroidered fushcia circles on them, a short leopard print dress, quite tight black and white zebra pants, a knee-length sueded brown leather skirt and a sweater that looked like it was covered in a 2-inch deep pile of white feathers.  I thought “well, I know I don’t usually wear clothes like this, but for $2 how can I go wrong?  They are really cool, and I can wear them to a party, or a fun summer picnic or for dinner out with friends…”

Revisiting What Owns Whom?
Right.  They all hung in my closet for 2 years.  My wardrobe was so stuffed with very cool $2 clothes that I wasn’t wearing that I couldn’t find the stuff I did want to wear.   Oh, and did I mention that keeping those unworn $2 clothes company were the Ann Taylor and Tahari suits?  That’s because the Ann Taylor one was for someone quite a bit smaller than I was and the Tahari was for someone a little bit larger.   But I thought I’d get them tailored (since they only cost $2) and then I would be able to wear them. 

While I still have and love my classic black pants, black shoes and nice tops, I have since parted company with all the other stuff I bought for $2 each.  This included the Ann Taylor and Tahari suits, which I did get tailored (for way more than $2) but that still didn’t look good on me.

So while these clothes initially cost me a mere $2 and seemed to be such a smart, frugal buy, they ended up costing me a lot more in taken-up closet space, money for tailoring, and time and effort to find them new homes.

So I’d like to reiterate Hattigrace’s message:  If you don’t immediately love whatever it is you are thinking about buying—even if it seems like a really good deal—don’t buy it. Trust me. You won’t love it more later, even if it was only $2. 

The Effect of FREE
Our buying behavior is nothing short of fascinating.  Duke professor and visiting MIT professor Dr. Dan Ariely has written an incredibly eye-opening book about human behavior called Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions in which he discusses some of the predictably irrational ways we make buying decisions.  

In one of the book’s chapters, he covers how people respond to the pricetag of FREE.  If you find it amazing that we’ll buy stuff we don’t need when it’s $2, just imagine what happens when it’s FREE.  To learn more, watch this short YouTube video from the book’s website, www.predictablyirrational.com.