Comments on: Sales Tax Holidays Another Spending Trap

By: Back To School Tips For Saving Money | Frugal Dad

Back To School Tips For Saving Money | Frugal Dad — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:09:00 +0000

[...] Shop on sales tax holidays, if you dare. Many states offer sales tax holidays, usually lasting an entire weekend near the end of July or early August. On these days a number of [...]

By: jeg

jeg — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 04:36:47 +0000

Here’s what me and my wife do. Please tell me if this is right.
We write down our needs and our wants in a piece of paper with corresponding budget and highlighting the most urgent. We then go out to supermarkets and malls with our list. So even if there are nice things on sale around we would not be tempted to buy them; since we would be worried more about how we are going to buy the things we have in our list which we really want and we really need. Once we have purchase an item, we cross them out of the list and then compare the expected budget versus the actual money spent. If we are able to buy it at a higher price compared to the budget then we lower the budget of another item or we cross out an item which we think we want the least or we mark them as last priority. I hope I am making sense.

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 04:42:59 +0000

Nice insights. At the end of the day, it’s all about getting to make you spend more.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 02:03:33 +0000

I have been hearing about tax free days a lot lately, even though my state does not do them. I thought to myself that I would be tempted to spend money just because it was tax free. I know myself too well I guess. but if you have a planned and saved for purchase, that would be the time to buy it.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 21:57:48 +0000

That is an OLD computer! I get your gripe about the sales tax holiday. It's not like Black Friday where last year I combined deep discounts with online codes and free shipping, saved myself the trip to the malls and did my shopping from the comfort of my Lazy Boy in my Pajamas. A sales tax holiday won't save you that kind of money. But, you did have some good tips. Andrea Save Money to Make Money

By: John Bohlke

John Bohlke — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 02:39:16 +0000

Regarding computers, I have one word of advice. If the computer you have is doing everything you want, keep it. Only get something new when you can’t do something you want to do. I’m currently using a nine year old computer with which I browse the web, email, edit and capture video, play the occasional game, etc. I had to learn new ways to get the most out of my computer, but it was worth it to me.

By: Susanne

Susanne — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 00:28:53 +0000

We have a very high sales tax here in TN. Personally, I wouldn’t go out of my way to shop during this time if I wanted smaller ticket items, but if I needed a new appliance or computer, I’d definitely take advantage of the tax-free opportunity.

The problem with our sales tax (combined with no income tax) is that it puts added stress on lower-income residents. I’d rather have an income tax combined with a lower sales tax.

By: thisisbeth

thisisbeth — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 23:21:56 +0000

My state thankfully has no sales tax on food or clothes (prepared food and candy are still taxed, though), so the state doesn’t need sales tax holidays to help with the back-to-school shopping. However, a friend took advantage of another state’s tax holiday when we were there vacationing to buy a new camera she was interested in. I think that’s when I wished we had a tax holiday, but I think I’d rather have tax-free clothes and food over a once-a-year tax-free event.

By: Mike Pastore

Mike Pastore — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 22:16:01 +0000

Sales tax holidays, I agree, is yet just another spending trap. Whenever we hear the word “SALE”, we often think of taking the advantage to shop because we believe that the prices are lower than the regular days. What we don’t know is that we spend more than we are supposed to spend, causing some strain in our budget.

For tips on personal finance, visit http://www.mikesmillions.com/blog.

By: Jacksonville Fence

Jacksonville Fence — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 20:47:14 +0000

I’m like you and despise crowded malls, so any of those sales tax days I stay away from it. In most cases if I really want an item I’m going to be frugal enough to search around to find a better deal then I would ever get on a sales tax savings day.