I recently cleaned out my inbox. I unsubscribed from just about every newsletter I receive and removed myself from a ton of unwanted junk that seems to wander across my path each day. I also unsubscribed from a huge number of RSS feeds to bargain blogs.
A lot of these blogs post multiple times throughout the day and my RSS reader quickly fills up with images of deeply discounted toys, clothing and other household items. While it’s great to get a bargain, it’s certainly not a bargain if you spend money on stuff you don’t need. After feeling tempted to buy things one too many times I decided to give the majority of those blogs the old heave-ho. (I did the same thing with magazines and catalogs a long time ago.)
It felt good to give them the boot. A lot of these blogs make their money from referral links to Amazon and other affiliate companies. Every time I take advantage of a bargain I’m dropping anywhere from a few cents to a few dollars in their pocket. There’s nothing wrong with this model. In fact, I belong to an affiliate company and make money whenever readers print coupons from my blog. From time to time I’ve also included affiliate links in posts, though this is a pretty rare occurrence.
I just think it’s important to remember that many bloggers do make money from listing these bargains and that the real way to save money is not to spend it. For me, it seemed easier to remove the RSS feeds from my reader then to continue the daily bombardment of items that were deeply discounted but ultimately not needed.
I need to do that with my emails I get from various stores. Not only do I waste time clicking on the links I rarely ever buy anything from the sites. Too much temptation! Plus it’s getting to the point where they send too many emails. I get a new email from bed bath and beyond every day saying my 20% coupon is going to expire and I better hurry and use it even though they send me a new coupon every day!
Oh I hate how you get on an email list after you buy one item! Staples inundates me with at least one email a day!
Congrats! I don’t miss getting sale newsletters at all. And when I actually need something, I still go to the websites to directly purchase (and chances are they are having a “sale” anyway)
I also removed a lot of those bargain sites because I kept finding a “bargain” that was too good to pass up and I ended up spending money I wouldn’t have otherwise.
Doesn’t it feel good to keep your money in your pocket and your inbox empty?
I’ve unsubscribed from Groupon e-mails and other similar sites to remove the temptation. Having a less cluttered inbox has been an added bonus. Also, when I get an email alert now, there’s increased odds that it’s from a friend rather than someone trying to sell me something!
I feel the same way. Most of the emails I receive now are from people I actually know š
I did the same thing recently.
The bargain sites are a risky game. As you said, stuff you didn’t need is no bargain at any price.
Our rules for Groupon – it has to be a restaurant we’ve either been to or already said we wanted to try. And it needs to be within 10 miles of home.
Last deal was $20 for $40 worh of food. When the bill came, it was a balance of $15 including tax and tip, so $20 off a $55 bill. Not bad for a restaurant meal, as long as we use these to save, and not to just eat out more.
I like the idea of setting up rules for bargain sites. They can definitely save you money if you use them for places you would dine anyway.