Mashup blogging and consumerism

While I’m pondering today… I get the occasional email and comment asking if I personally check out all of the deals I post. Let’s think about this for a minute — Um, no. My personal funds, storage space, and appetite for consumerism are somewhat less than unlimited, and a lot of the deals I post, I have no personal need for or interest in. What my family needs and purchases is not going to be the same as what your family needs and purchases, but I post these deals when it looks like a bunch of you might benefit from them. It would be pretty impractical for any frugality blogger to personally purchase everything she or he links to.

But on the theme of informed consumerism I have going here today, when you look back on the last few weeks of leading-up-to-Christmas deals, it does look on the surface like an encouragement to buy, buy, then buy some more! So I wanted to talk a bit about intention, purpose, and posting.

Posting and purpose

I post the deals here, not to say that everyone should necessarily do them, but to say “hey, if this is something you need or want, here’s how you can get a good price on it.” I know how easy it is to get caught up in the deals and to buy something just because it’s such a great deal — but have been trying, especially this last week, to step back from this a bit myself.

Will I buy something I don’t need if it makes me money (a la Register Rewards or Catalinas)? Yes, because most of these items can easily be donated or given away, and because doing so gives me resources I can then use to buy something else I do need. (I get a real kick out of using Register Rewards to buy produce at Jewel, for instance.) Will I buy something I don’t need just because it’s a good deal? Not necessarily, especially now that my stockpile is at a pretty self-sustaining level.

So I just want to enter 2010 on that note: Mashup Mom, and any other frugality blogs you may read, are merely tools to help you save, not necessarily advice on what to buy. If reading some of these deals gives you the impulse to buy something you wouldn’t ordinarily purchase, step back and think: Do you need it? Will you use it? And if not, will you donate it? If the answer to all three of those questions is no, then it’s not really a deal.

And that is enough pondering for one day!