That garage sale spreadsheet turned into a nightmare for me

I tracked every single dollar I spent at garage sales for 6 months thinking it would show savings. Instead I found I'd spent $2,340 on stuff I didn't need because it was 'such a good deal'. Has anyone else had a bargain-hunting habit blow up their budget?

2 comments

2 Comments

owens.nancy3d ago

Hold up, $2,340 in 6 months? How is that even possible for garage sale junk? That sounds like you were practically buying new stuff. I get it, deals can be tempting. But keeping a spreadsheet just proves you were in deep. You weren't casually browsing, you were actively hunting. Did you ever stop and think about how much space all that took up in your house? I bet half of it is sitting in a closet or garage gathering dust right now. That's the real trap. Those "savings" don't mean anything if you're just buying things to own them. You're basically paying money to store clutter. At least you caught it now. Stop going to sales for a few months. That's the only way to break the cycle.

dianagreen3d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah, "you were in deep" really hit me... when I started tracking stuff like that it was a wakeup call for sure. It's hard to admit but that spreadsheet was more like a log of bad habits than a win.