Here’s Why I Didn’t Spend a Lot on Amazon Prime Day This Year

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Amazon Prime Day was a win for the online retail giant this past July. But read on to see why this writer didn’t really participate. 

Amazon Prime Day took place on July 11 and 12 this year. And data from Adobe Analytics shows that U.S. consumers spent a rather astounding $12.7 during that two-day event. I, however, shopped minimally on Prime Day this year for one big reason.

I didn’t have a large list of items I needed

During Prime Day, my husband and I bought a new mattress for our daughter’s bed and a couple of storage pieces to help get ourselves more organized. All told, we spent about $200.

Now, we could’ve spent more than that. We have a few different savings accounts, including one for travel and leisure purposes. So had I run up a larger credit card tab, it would’ve been fairly easy to pay it off.

But the reason I didn’t spend more than $200 on Prime Day (and didn’t buy anything particularly fun or interesting) is that there wasn’t anything special on my wishlist. So I didn’t see the point of buying things I didn’t really want or need just because they were on sale.

Sure, some of the deals were tempting. At one point, I considered buying new sneakers because the price Amazon was offering was great.

But then I realized that I didn’t actually need new sneakers. Even though I replace mine fairly often due to running and walking a lot, I had just purchased a new pair a few weeks prior to Prime Day. And also, the price I’d snagged on a random June afternoon was quite comparable to the Prime Day price I saw for my go-to brand. So there wasn’t a really compelling reason to spend the money at that point in time.

Self-control can go a long way

It’s easy enough to get tempted by sales events like Prime Day, and to purchase items when you know they’re heavily discounted. But there’s one question that I try to ask myself before buying anything — whether during an event like Prime Day or just in general. And that question is, “Would I be buying this if it weren’t on sale?”

If the answer is no, then chances are, it’s not something that’s so important to me in the first place. And so I’m better off not blowing money on it.

In fact, by not spending too much in the course of Amazon Prime Day, I had more money to spend on meals and entertainment during my family’s recent summer vacation. And in hindsight, I made the right call, because it was nice being able to enjoy a few extra restaurant meals together after long days of hiking rather than going back to our rental and cooking while on vacation.

Events like Prime Day are meant to put pressure on consumers to take advantage of deals while they’re available. But with retailers like Amazon, there are deals all year long.

Meanwhile, Amazon has announced plans to run a second Prime Day event this October. And I intend to take the same approach as I did in July. If you don’t want to end up with shopper’s remorse, I suggest you do the same.

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The Ascent does not cover all offers on the market. Editorial content from The Ascent is separate from The Motley Fool editorial content and is created by a different analyst team.John Mackey, former CEO of Whole Foods Market, an Amazon subsidiary, is a member of The Motley Fool’s board of directors. Maurie Backman has positions in Amazon.com. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Amazon.com. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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