She's On The Money - Deal or No Deal This Black Friday

Episode Date: November 14, 2023

It's that time of the year, where our email inbox gets flooded with promises of 'our biggest sale EVER!' Depending on how you approach this time of year, it could save you a lot of money, or potentially send you into debt. V and Bec chat the good and bad of Black Friday, and give you a foolproof plan to ensure you don't go broke this November! The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's On The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs.  Victoria Devine and She's On The Money are authorised representatives of Money Sherpa PTY LTD ABN - 321649 27708,  AFSL - 451289.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hello, my name is Natasha Nabanunga-Bamblett. I'm a proud Yorta Yorta, Kernai, Wolperi and Awadjeri woman. And before we get started on She's on the Money podcast, I would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land of which this podcast is recorded on Awadjeri country, acknowledging the elders, the ancestors and the next generation coming through. As this podcast is about connecting, empowering, knowledge sharing and the storytelling of you to make a difference for today and lasting impact for tomorrow. Let's get into it. She's on the money.

She's on the money. Hello and welcome to Shades on the Money, the podcast for people who love a bargain. My name is Bec Syed and as usual, I'm joined by Victoria Devine. Hello, Bec. Devine Victoria. I am very excited about this episode because if anything, I love a little bargain and one of the biggest bargain days ever is coming up and people have already been DMing me. They're like, Victoria, I don't mean to enable you, but look at this list of discounts.

I'm like, look, I'm probably not going to post it to my stories, but I am going to do a little sneaky screenshot so I can save it for myself for later. Yes. So like not mad, just kind of trying not to enable the rest of the community because I think so many of us are a little bit like tap happy and spending is like really hard to control when there's a big sale. So what are we talking about today, Bec? Okay. So it's a dangerous time of year. We are talking about Black Friday. We are. It's a slippery slope. And if you have even an ounce of self-control, I feel like you're kind of safe, but I don't. And anyone like me, I don't have any.

Neither do I because I got ADHD. You know, there's so many people in the same boat as us. But we should not have been put on a podcast together. Who did this? A financial podcast. I did this. I did this. When picking a new co-host, I was like,

Bec, do you want to come on the pod? And you were like, yes. And now we just like get together and vibe off each other and don't do any work. We're a very bad influence. Let's go shopping. But we have touched on Black Friday before. We have.

And I wonder what actually is it? All right. So Black Friday actually originated in America, which I've just come back from, and is a huge sale that is post their Thanksgiving. It's held on the fourth Friday of November each and every single year and officially finishes on the following Monday, which they call Cyber Monday nowadays. it's obviously now grown beyond america and is an international event that spans long past the last friday in november because if brands are good at anything it is milking a sale that drives revenue it's like if i had a product-based business i'd be like that's black friday every day beck but you might actually start seeing sales advertised at the beginning of november

or even earlier than that i feel like i've been seeing all of these posts and people have been sending me like Black Friday cheat codes and stuff since early October. So I don't think it is uncommon for them to start early. But like if, again, I had a product-based business, you best believe I'd be like, hey, Bec, we're having a sale. Keep an eye out, you know? Yes. Very, very cheeky and effective. Yeah, it is very effective. 100% of the time. But yes, it is a very hectic time of year and it is coming up soon. So it can be quite overwhelming for a lot of people, especially if you've been saving and you feel

like this urge to just spend spend spend especially because it's like oh well it's this one time of year where everything I want is on special so I may as well spend but it's probably not maybe as smart as we are thinking it's not we can be smart though and that's what we do in the she's on the money community totally we absolutely need to be smart with this because even though people are sending me the cheat codes and people are letting me know that these sales are happening I actually have a little list in my phone of things I want to purchase because it's no secret now that I'm having a baby next year. Yes. They're so expensive. I know. So I've got like this list of things that I know I need to purchase, but my plan is to purchase them during the Black Friday sales

because I've heard on the grapevine that's like the best discount I can get for the products I'm looking for. So like, I think we need to have a bit of a plan going into it. Okay. But I did want to touch on the amount that we spend. I want to know like how much do you think we spend on average on Black Friday? Many, many, many. Many, many dollars. We spend so many dollars. So NAB did some research last year and the NAB transaction data from last year's Black Friday showed the following, Bec. I've got three dot points for you. Are you ready? Australia spent a whopping $7.1 billion. Billion. Nearly $1 billion more than was predicted by the Australian Retailers Association. NAB says the biggest spend increase happened in Victoria and Tasmania, up 20%,

followed by ACT and WA, up 17% and 12% respectively. In fact, the ARA says we get 25% of our Christmas shopping done and dusted on Black Friday, which that's smart people doing smart things. Yeah, that doesn't sound so bad. Christmas spending is expensive. Why do you think we're talking about this now. Oh, we're smart. We're smart. But we also want you to get your ducks in a row. And if you can save some money going into arguably the most expensive period of the year, like I want you to have all the tips and tricks and tools. So I guess you are empowered instead of being disempowered during this period of time. Because like so many of us regret spending. But if we have a plan and you're spending on things that you arguably had to anyway,

is that not a money win, Bec? I'm just curious though, like are these sales good? Or is it just like the way it's marketed to us? Like, are we actually saving money? Or is it just the way that like our brains work? Do you know what I mean? Why not both? So the ACCC, this is real sneaky, Bec. Okay. They say that some retailers increase prices for a short period immediately before their sales periods in order to justify their discount claims during the sales. Unacceptable. That's unacceptable.

That is not cool. That's why the ACCC is stepping in there. What's more is that Black Friday can be very costly for the environment, which I think we need to touch on as well. Yes. Because according to a study done by money.co.uk, Black Friday in the UK alone was expected to emit 386,243 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions, which is the same weight as 3,679 blue whales.

Oh, my goodness. That's a lot of whales. That's a lot of whales. So from my perspective, it is worth questioning what the true cost of these sales are because as much as we can save some dollaroos, especially on things we were going to buy anyway, there's clearly a overspend happening regardless of whether you're kind of justifying it. Oh, it's for Christmas or whatnot. Like we all know that you're not just buying clothes and apparel for Christmas, you know?

Like I'm on to you. We can justify it so far, but like let's be reasonable too. Yes, exactly. Well, Halvey, you're actually making me question a lot of my recent purchases, which is probably... Sorry. No, it's probably good. Why aren't you questioning the vape purchases?

Weird. Look, that's the one that I like to... That's an investment, according to you, into shortening your life. Anyway, move on. Exactly. Which actually is going to save money. Oh, you're a genius. You know what?

If you would like something to be reframed, we're going to start a new segment on the show called Reframed by Bec. She will take your shitty life situation and make it look amazing. Make it positive. Exactly. I think it's a really good place to quickly ponder. Let's go on a quick break. I'm going to have a little tea. You're going to have a vape. I'm going to have a vape. We're all going to have a tea. God, we're so in sync. No, we're not in sync. I'm not on that page, Bec.

You're not going to vape. That's true. All right. Let's have a quick break. And then once we come back, we're going to help you get the most out of Black Friday deals without the regret. Slay. okay v we are back in black no you didn't friday yeah i knew where that was going i just want everyone to know everyone listening that wasn't my joke my that was your joke our producer no do not try and calm it off i would never say something so bad yes you would i would actually but we are back and we're talking about black friday and it can be very tempting to see a good sale and throw cash into it immediately without thinking. So how important is it to go into this period with a plan? I would say very important. I mean, I am an ex-financial planner. So if you ask me

if a plan is essential and then I say, no, it's invalidating my entire career. So we're going to go and say, yes, a plan is essential, but I have some stats and facts to back up why I say that. Let's go then. So a self-financial study recently showed that 42% of people actually ended up regretting their Black Friday sales purchases. No surprises there. A lot of items on sale on Black Friday are arguably unnecessary, unwanted, cheap goods made from poor quality, unsustainable materials. And we can be duped into buying things that we don't actually want because of urgency traps and FOMO and unethical practices from retailers. How many times on the show, Bec, have I said, put 24 hours between you and your spending? Many times. Many times. No one

listen, that's why we're still here. But I think it's really important on Black Friday, especially to remember that the sale will probably still be there tomorrow. And if you are making a plan to purchase, then you're putting more than 24 hours between you and your spending. So like give a little bit of context here. There are a few things that I really want from a, I won't say high end retailer, but like their middle, like they're a furniture a company and I know that they usually have a 30% off sale during Black Friday. And I want to purchase from them this little bookcase they have and like a chest of drawers for my nursery, right? So I know that's what I want to purchase. And going in, I'm already planning that. I know where

they're going to go. I'm a psycho, so I have got the masking tape out and put it on the floor in the nursery just to make sure that it fits. But it's one of those things where I've planned this purchase so I will on Black Friday make a really big purchase but I've known for weeks that that's what I want to do and I want you to be in the same position totally I don't actually want you and no shade to the iconic I'm obsessed with the iconic but it's like going into Kmart I cannot walk away from that app with the one thing I went there for like I have to go on to the iconic and then I put one thing in my bag and then it's like you might like this I'm like how did you know I need that too. You know me so well. You know me so well. I love you guys. And then I end up spending

so much more. We need to be really cautious of that happening on the platforms that we already are comfortable with that are going to have even better sales. Because you just know the Iconic's going to have a sleigh sale, right? Totally. This isn't sponsored. I just know what's going to happen. We just know we can always rely on the Iconic. I just know. So I think it's really important to understand that. But in combination with all of that, Commonwealth Bank card data showing that we are actually spending individually approximately $500 each on Black Friday sales. So that's $500 from my perspective, straight down the drain for nearly half of all of us every single year. So $500 that gets wasted when the cost of living crisis is so high,

I think is exorbitant. So will I be making a $500 purchase this Black Friday? Yes. But the takeaway is, yes, we will be spending money. No, but it's also really important to go, okay, cool. Yes, they collect all of this awesome data and say, oh, on Black Friday, Bec, we can see that people spend more. Sure. Are those people spending more because they're like me and they're priming these purchases and going, well, I'm not going to buy it when I know in a couple of weeks Black Friday is going to happen and I'm going to get 30% off those goods that I was going to buy anyway? In which case,

I'm happy to be part of that number. I don't mind. But is it us spending $500 because it was 1am, I got another notification in my emails when I was meant to be sleeping, but I was scrolling TikTok. I clicked it. I went to the iconic and went down a rabbit hole and now I have a new wardrobe. Is that what happened? Or did I actually plan that purchase? So we need to be really careful that we know the difference between the two. And obviously there are some tips and tricks to avoid that slippery slope. Yes, absolutely. Great advice, Phoebe. I'm just here trying my best, you know? And your best is good enough. Sometimes my best is not good enough, but today it will do.

personally i can't afford to just drop five hundred dollars on some crappy sometimes not crappy just most people can't just fyi like it's not actually normal to re i guess iterate this i've said this on the podcast before as well the average australian does not have access to five hundred dollars in an emergency yes so the fact that we are then spending five hundred dollars during black friday sales that we might not have especially when you're saying i can't afford to spend 500 bucks fee on just stuff that I didn't need. Well, that makes sense because most Australians don't have access to $500 in an emergency if they're like car tires blue or something. So I just, in a cost of living crisis, it just blows my mind how much we are spending at the same time as

being like, oh, I kind of get it if you're like me and you're planning your purchases, but that's why we need to talk about it. Like it's not all bad. As I said earlier, some of us are actually like, you know, knocking off what, 25% of our Christmas shopping during this period. And that's to me quite smart because you were going to spend that anyway. Yes. So, okay, V, how do we plan this? What does that look like? Okay. So I have written down a list. I have like maybe seven or eight dot points. As you guys know, I love a dot point because we can be efficient and quick and get the information in your ear holes as soon as possible. So first things first, I've written down, make a list of items that you want to purchase. If you're like me, you have an album

them on your phone or you've screenshot people's TikToks of stuff that you want. Yes. Great. Is there something you've been saving up for and you can actually get for a cheaper price during this period of time? Do you actually have a list of presents that you want to buy and get during this time? If you say no, but you do Christmas shopping, now's the time to do a Christmas buying list. Yes.

There's a free Christmas shopping list on our website if you want to go download it where it says, put down all your friends and family names. How much is your budget? What are you purchasing for them? How could that work? And I think that that can really help you go, wow, like, oh, I allocated 50 bucks to each person because in your head, that's not that much. And then when you see it compounded and the list of names down the side of the page and

you go, that's now $1,000 on Christmas, you might go back to the drawing board and be like, do you know what? We're going to do some DIY. We're going to make Christmas cards this year. And I think that that's really important because it's November, right? Like we want to be getting ahead of the game. And, you know, Jess and I, you guys know Jess, we have some crafty little DIY Christmas presents that you can make this year that I am making this year that I think will work really well.

But I think we need to just be a little bit more planned, right? Again, we're in the middle of a cost of living crisis. We should be caring about what we're spending because at the end of the day, every single dollar counts. The next, we're going to do our research. As I said before, there can be fake price drops. So if there is an item that you have in mind, start doing your research now on what it's going to cost and what kind of deal you could potentially get. This is my favorite. I'm going

to recommend a product, but it's like not sponsored. I feel like on the podcast, we recommend a lot of stuff. None of it's sponsored unless I tell you it is, my friends. I just like sharing. The next is we're going to unsubscribe from our emails. I'm really sorry. As I said to you before, Iconic, I am deeply in love with you, but I need you to stop emailing me. I really do. it's not working because I will click the email. I will go through. I do need to see what is now on sale. They're too good. I do, right? I know. But the company that I want to recommend is actually just a website. It's called unroll.me. Oh. And it is a website for decluttering your inbox. And it's so, so easy. Basically, you can unsubscribe from unwanted emails and keep the

ones that you do want. It's an app. Right. That you like install, connect your emails, and then it goes through and you just tick boxes and it unsubscribes for you. So you don't have to do it individually. It like does it on a bulk. So convenient. Yeah, it kind of like goes, hey, here are all the marketing emails that we've identified. Do you want us to unsubscribe from all of them? And then you untick the ones you want to keep and then unsubscribe from the rest. That is so convenient. Slay, right? I love that. The next is consider quality purchases only. So making sure that if you're going to buy something, is it actually going to last back or is it just a cute top that you're going to get one wear out of and then it's going to fall apart?

Not a sleigh. Ask yourself, would you actually pay full price for this? If the answer's no, I want you to rethink your purchase before actually completing it. Because if you wouldn't pay full price, why are you buying it in the first place? That's a very good point. Like if I wouldn't spend the entire amount, I clearly don't like it that much. Yeah. You don't need it. You don't really want it. No. Yeah. It's a really good point. Again, put 24 hours between you and your spending. I couldn't say that enough for people who are a little bit impulsive, this really helps. Even if the sale says it's ending in six hours,

most of the time they end up getting extended because do you know what retail is like? Money coming in the door back. Yes. So they're going to be like, oh, we've just extended this sale. What a surprise. We just thought of this idea right now. No one saw it coming. No one saw it coming. Not even us or our marketing strategy that we put together 12 months ago for this. Like they absolutely knew what they were doing. Then check the quality of like components and tech items. Often retailers will actually sell similar models at a lower price, but minus the features and the high quality components. So like if you're buying a TV, it might be LED versus the OLED. And if you know anything about TVs, you know one of those is better than the other. And I can't

remember which is which. You would have to ask my husband, but that is a rant that he has been on before. I see. Yeah. He's ready. Yeah. That's a Steve tip. You're welcome. And the next, this is going to be absolutely no surprise to anybody. Don't use Afterpay. Don't. Like it's a terrible idea. You know why it's a terrible idea? Because it is a slippery slope. It is a slippery slope and only use Afterpay if you're like cash flowing it and the money's already in your account and it's a fully like planned out plan and it makes sense. But too many people in our community have gone down that slippery slope, found themselves in debt and that has impacted them far more than just getting a new pair of kicks. Totally right, V. Also, it feels so good when you make a one-off

purchase. There is always like buyer's remorse if you make a big purchase, but it feels so much better knowing that's done and dusted. I don't have to keep paying for this thing over and over and over again. That's it. I think you've helped me save $500 this week. Have I? I think you have. Show me where it is. Personally, Black Friday, it brings maybe like a little bit of anxiety because I know myself, I know I don't have any self-regulation. That's what got me into debt in the first place. So it's good to know. It's a time of year where I know that like I'm going to have to avoid going out. But it's also a bit exciting because as you say, like if you do have a plan, if you like Christmas is coming up, like all of these things, there are so many benefits

to it. But for me, it's just a little bit scary because I don't trust myself, I would say. That's fair. How do you feel around this time of year? I'm the same. Like at the end of the day, I have shared with you guys that I am relatively impulsive when it comes to purchases. It's why I don't use platforms like Afterpay and, you know, buy now pay later platforms in general because I just know it wouldn't work for me I have had a credit card before and I have abused a credit card before and I know I can't trust myself with one again yes like it just makes sense so I kind of look at it and go well I know myself enough to

know that this is not a good time of year flip it over I think I've told you historically about my best friend who like uses afterpay but she's like a genius at it right she'll go on to the iconic she'll use afterpay to order a heap of dresses so she can try them on she keeps the one she wants and she sends the rest back and all of that money didn't come out of her account. Like she's actually a genius. If I get a big package of dresses back and they don't fit, you know what happens? They get thrown in the corner of my room until the returns period of time has expired. And then I'm like, oh, yeah, whoops. Yeah. Like she's just better at everything than I am. So if that is you and you are a Steph of the world, then go ahead. Use it that way. That works for you. But

unfortunately that's not the reality of most of our community and I want to make sure that you know you feel heard and you feel like you're not alone in this because Beck you're in the same position you're like oh I can't trust myself during this period of time all right well let's not trust each other together what's the plan yes so true and it's going to be so much easier if I'm like you didn't buy anything did you and you go no and I go slay let's get coffee do you know what I mean like we can actually support each other during this period of time but we can also use it to our advantage if we have a plan. So if you have some purchases that you need to make, if there are things that are on your wishlist or your Christmas list or literally any list that

you've got, well, maybe sit down now and be like, all right, I'm just going to write out what I need, when I might need it by, what that actually looks like. Because if you can save 30%, that's a money win. But it's not a money win if you didn't need to purchase it in the first place. Exactly. You know what they say, V? A penny saved is a penny earned. So if you spend no money at all, I feel like you've made that money. I don't even need to be here anymore. You've got this. All right, let's go because I'm now salty that you're smarter at money than I am.

Fair enough. You should be a little bit scared. I am terrified if that's the reality. But we will see you guys on Friday. Have a beautiful week. Bye, guys. Bye. Bye.

The advice shared on She's On The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She's on the Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. If you do choose to buy a financial product, read the PDS, TMD and obtain appropriate financial advice tailored towards your needs. Victoria Devine and She's on the Money are authorised representatives of MoneySherpa PTY LTD ABN 321 649 27708 AFSL 451 289.

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