Amazingly, I stayed on budget for these two sales days. It wasn’t easy with all the marketing and flashing lights I was inundated with.

The good news is I finished my Christmas shopping, so that is one less thing to worry about. The great news is I didn’t buy anything for myself and wasn’t sucked into the feeding frenzy.

How did I stay on budget?

This was the easier part. I made a list of what I was going to buy for each person that I still needed to buy gifts for ahead of time and stuck to it. The hard part of this equation was avoiding being sucked in by “you may also like.”

Since I am rigid about my budget, I wasn’t tempted to buy extra things for Christmas gifts. I have one aunt who has this problem. She has a basement full of things that she buys during Christmas sales that she pulls from every year and gives them to people. She also keeps shopping the same way every Christmas, so her hoard continues to grow.

For me, I was more tempted to substitute a new gift for my original purchase idea. I used the strategy of sleeping on the decision. I took a nap (I don’t really need reason to take a nap, but it is always good to have a reason ready.)

I decided to stick with my list and not even look at the suggestions offered up by the infallible internet. I did this because I had already researched the products and knew the people I was buying them for would like them. Problem solved.

How did I avoid the impulse buy for myself?

This was a much more difficult task. I can be overcome by flashing lights as well as any other lower mammal. My first stab at stopping the impulse buys was the tried and true “Do I want this or do I need it?”

The want need approach works for me most of time, but we all can get mesmerized by the right product or the mass hysteria of thinking something is a deal. What to do?

I thought about all of my stuff in boxes in the basement. You know, the things that once you’re married, are no longer fit to be on display? (This seems to happen to men’s belongings as opposed to women’s…strange) Anyway, I starting thinking of all the things I could sell.

This made me realize that I still have too much stuff and don’t really need to buy more stuff. Therefore, I may have missed out on a few “deals”, but at the end of sales frenzy, I feel good about missing the sale of the year.

How did you fare on Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Get some great deals? End over or under budget?