Breaking away from addiction to online sales.

[Metalhead]

I have caught on to their tricks to get me thinking that if I do not open my wallet for the reduced prices right this second, I will eventually be missing out on a great deal on some things I really do not need seeing as I already am sitting on a massive mountain of movies and video games.

Steam does this. Xbox does this. VUDU does this. I get suckered into those digital sales all the damn time. Now I have more than enough to enjoy for a decade at least.

Consumer culture is empty and vacant. It teaches people that more is never enough. It plays on emotions and human nature in a predatory fashion.

I am learning to break away from all of that. Giving up the beer and keeping my inhibitions intact has certainly helped in that front.

 

[Mr. Stevens]

I definitely enjoyed my things more when I was a kid and had less.

Also, the greater the initial pleasure, the quicker it seems to diminish, and vice versa. Yet, we can keep chasing it with porn, shopping, drugs, "likes," etc.

 

[Aspychata]

I want zero debt. It feels like l have more control.

 

[Misery]

In so many cases they cant even be trusted to begin with.

Like some store that abruptly does a drastic price increase on something, so that when a major holiday sale happens shortly after they can drop it down and claim it's SUCH A DEAL!!!!!! when in reality it costs more than it did before.

But nobody thinks about that. They dont want you to think about that. Just hand over the money, dont think.

Even Steam does this. They dont lie or trick you with prices, but they DO get you to buy so many things at once that there's no way you'd get to all of them, even if you have nothing but free time. But they dont want you to think about THAT. They just make it so that you end up buying so many at once that you WONT play, that the actual paid amount becomes well more than if you'd just bought one or two games that you absolutely WILL play.

Knowing stuff like this is like 80% of the battle.

Just remember: These deals are not for you. They are never for you. They are for the company, and the company wants only profit... there are no exceptions.

Think about it that way, and it gets much easier to spot the stupid and avoid it.

 

[Knower of nothing]

I rarely "browser". I learn about media or products from other people and then go out to grab specifically that. A distaste for shopping is the easiest way to save up ahah.

 

[Outdated]

I'm not too bad at avoiding the impulse buying, but I don't think anyone's immune. A quick run to the shops for more tobacco, now look what I'm having for lunch:

 

[Shamar]

I have caught on to their tricks to get me thinking that if I do not open my wallet for the reduced prices right this second, I will eventually be missing out on a great deal on some things I really do not need seeing as I already am sitting on a massive mountain of movies and video games.

Steam does this. Xbox does this. VUDU does this. I get suckered into those digital sales all the damn time. Now I have more than enough to enjoy for a decade at least.

Consumer culture is empty and vacant. It teaches people that more is never enough. It plays on emotions and human nature in a predatory fashion.

I am learning to break away from all of that. Giving up the beer and keeping my inhibitions intact has certainly helped in that front.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned this, but Al Yankovic had a song about this.

 

[Rodafina]

I'm not too bad at avoiding the impulse buying, but I don't think anyone's immune. A quick run to the shops for more tobacco, now look what I'm having for lunch:View attachment 91184

That’s some really odd looking tobacco you bought.

 

[Slime_Punk]

The best way to do sales (personal opinion) is to wishlist stuff all year round, and then when the sales drop you can grab only the stuff you seriously wanted / will actually play, and anything outside of that is a no-go.

Rather than picking up Celeste or Axiom Verge for the third time just because they're $5 on Switch right now.
Deep breaths.

 

[Progster]

I would have this issue, if my guilt over spending money didn't keep me in check. Everything to do with music - hifi gear, records, CDs, etc. Right now I want to build a new hifi system and I really want this pair of very expensive speakers on Ebay. Will I succumb? I don't buy on credit though - don't buy unless the money is there to buy it. I have a credit card, but don't use it.

Steven Wilson - Personal shopper

 

[BrokenBoy]

Consumer culture is empty and vacant. It teaches people that more is never enough. It plays on emotions and human nature in a predatory fashion.

I once remember this article where it talks about how the American government assassinated this one Iranian major general and this Iranian cleric mocked the U,S by saying they could not get revenge because America doesn't have any real heroes the population idolizes, only fictional icons from popular culture. If you want an example of the impact consumer culture has had in regards to being predatory towards the populace at large, there you have it.

EDIT: BTW, did you read up on commodity fetishism?

In so many cases they cant even be trusted to begin with.

Like some store that abruptly does a drastic price increase on something, so that when a major holiday sale happens shortly after they can drop it down and claim it's SUCH A DEAL!!!!!! when in reality it costs more than it did before.

But nobody thinks about that. They dont want you to think about that. Just hand over the money, dont think.

Even Steam does this. They dont lie or trick you with prices, but they DO get you to buy so many things at once that there's no way you'd get to all of them, even if you have nothing but free time. But they dont want you to think about THAT. They just make it so that you end up buying so many at once that you WONT play, that the actual paid amount becomes well more than if you'd just bought one or two games that you absolutely WILL play.

Knowing stuff like this is like 80% of the battle.

Just remember: These deals are not for you. They are never for you. They are for the company, and the company wants only profit... there are no exceptions.

Think about it that way, and it gets much easier to spot the stupid and avoid it.

I used to get caught in the trap of buying endless stuff in December on Steam. I still have tons of games I haven't gotten close to finishing yet, so this December I only wanna spend money on other people.

 

[Misery]

I used to get caught in the trap of buying endless stuff in December on Steam. I still have tons of games I haven't gotten close to finishing yet, so this December I only wanna spend money on other people.

Yeah, same here, mostly.

When I look over my game list, over the last couple of months, I only bought a couple of things... I did buy Dwarf Fortress a couple of days ago but that one was kinda special. And there were two other things in November and October.

Anything else though... yeah, not much. Granted, it helps that there isnt all that much new that's interesting right now... the AAA side of the industry, I wont touch with a 2000 foot pole, so that's entirely out, and there's nothing particularly special (that I've actually noticed) on the indie front lately outside of DF.

And anything else I'd buy right now would be competing with that and Factorio and 2 other games I'm super into right now, and... yeah, wouldnt be getting played anyway since I'd be obsessively playing those. So, little point in buying. Would just go into the box.

Of course that's just me, when I look at my activity feed most of the people on my friends list just keep buying new things, and as soon as the inevitable winter sale starts, they'll do things like buy 50 games at once, 49 of which they wont touch.

It seems so very... illogical, looking at it from this point of view now. I mean I never cared all that much about the sales to begin with, because heck with it, but now it just looks even more ridiculous.