As the internet knows, today is Cyber Monday, that time of year when anyone who forgot to fight their neighbor for a curved TV set at Target can go online and buy it there, no gladiator competition necessary.
Over the last four days, my inbox has been flooded by a myriad of very tempting offers from retailers – 25% off at Nike, 10% off + a $10 gift card at LL Bean, $199 for four shirts from Brooks Brothers – that got me to spend time on their websites, trying to determine whether I need another pair of running shorts or four more non-iron button downs.
After spending more time looking at those offers than I’d like to admit, I came to the scary realization that I may not actually need anything. Sure, I could make excuses for another t-shirt or pair of jeans or jogging earbuds, but I’ve run out of “I’ll buy it as backup” excuses, since, well, I’ve got backups of the backups.
And so my resolution for this Cyber Monday, and, if possible, for the next month, is to resist the temptation to scour SlickDeals and Amazon Gold Box and RetailMeNot for the latest price drops for the Apple Watch or Bose running earbuds. I think I’ll try to mentally “bank” the money that I would have spent on those items on a real-world trip to somewhere fun and interesting and only minimally commercial. But my real challenge may be to steer clear of The Wirecutter’s Travel Gear Guide. Oh, packing cubes, don’t tempt me now!
Silicon Spatula 