American Bedwetter

Discussion

“Treat yourself.” “You deserve it.” “You’ve earned it.” “You owe it to yourself.” Clichés we’ve all heard.

And what’s wrong with that? When it comes right down to it, life is hard—shouldn’t you have nice things to ease things along?

That’s exactly what we want you to think. We’re selling a product by selling an idea. You work many hours a week, or spend time taking care of your family—you’ve earned something and deserve some kind of compensation, no? It seems a reasonable idea: this shirt is so nice, buying it is like a reward—except you have to pay for it.

If this shirt really will make you happy, perhaps it’s worth spending the money. But don’t be deceived, it’s not a reward—just a trade, money for item. And before you commit to it, consider other ways to treat yourself.

• Take a day off and go to the beach, relax over a good book, take a hike or make a nice meal and have friends over to share it
• Dig your way out of the anxiety of ever-looming debt
• Instead of spending your money on a quick impulse “reward”, save up for something you really want.

More often than not, given the choice between an object, some time, and an experience, you’ll choose something other than the thing.

The lessons here:

• If you spend money you’ve earned, you’ll need to work more to replenish it.
• Not buying things can offer you time instead
• Buying something isn’t a reward. It’s a transaction.

Website tips

Successful merchants use the various social media websites (Twitter, Facebook, etc.) to promote their products because it works.

Wanting to belong to the collective seems to be built into the way we think. We think we want to be an individual, and make some effort to distinguish ourselves from others—but not so much that we’re isolated from the group. “Like”, “Share”, and “Recommend” buttons play on this, persuading you to keep up by paying up.

Other times, merchants create blogs that you can follow. People subscribe because…well okay, I can’t answer why. But the merchants do it because it helps sales.

What can you do to make yourself marketing resistant?

• Don’t subscribe. Stay off mailing lists and get off the ones you’re one. What you don’t see, you won’t want.
• Get angry. Embrace that feeling that you’re being manipulated, or the anxiety about your finances. Wield those thoughts against marketing and marketers.
• Hide your money from yourself. Have a portion of your pay direct deposited to a savings account, so it’s never in with the “spending money”. Make a game of not spending on your credit card or accessing the savings account.

See also:

• Direct Mailing Association to get yourself off most snail-mail marketing

TrueCost®

Item price:	$ 63.95
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