It’s the most wonderful – and expensive – time of the year! If you made it through Black Friday and Cyber Monday without breaking the bank and/or got all of your holiday shopping done, congratulations! Tell me your secret, I want to be like you. I bought a gift for my parents, an Echo Dot for my son, and a few things, including those Apple AirTags, for myself lol. According to research from Finder, approximately 132 million Americans were estimated to take advantage of holiday sales events this year, spending an average of $708 in total.

Meanwhile, other studies have found that a fair amount of Black Friday sale items are not exclusive to just that day. I actually noticed this when showing my mom the webpage for a Kate Spade bag I bought on clearance back a month or so ago. That same bag was a part of their Black Friday sale for $30 more than what I bought it for! So why are we more receptive to shopping these deals during specific days that are designated for them? Yahoo Life spoke to some experts to break down the psychology of scoring a deal.

Purchase first, justify later: “Shopping is not a rational process. If it were, we’d buy strictly what we need,” Pauline Wallin, a licensed psychologist based in Camp Hill, Penn., tells Yahoo Life. “Instead, we generally purchase what we want, and justify it afterwards.”

It’s all about that dopamine, baby: In that case, a good deal is defined more by emotion than by actual numbers, Wallin adds. It all depends on what you value. You’ve heard of “retail therapy” — the act of shopping to feel better — this really is no different, Dr. Chris Pagnani, psychiatrist and medical director of Rittenhouse Psychiatric Associates, tells Yahoo Life. “It’s all about dopamine,” he says.

Scratching an itch: Dopamine is the lead singer in your brain’s band of feel-good neurotransmitters, which also includes serotonin, oxytocin and endorphins, Pagnani explains. Dopamine’s job is to reward you with a rush of pleasure after doing something that heeds human survival — eating, drinking, reproducing. And although shopping certainly doesn’t keep you alive, something about the hunt and score scratches an innate itch and keeps dopamine flowing, LaNail R. Plummer, a licensed therapist and chief executive officer of Onyx Therapy Group, tells Yahoo Life. “It’s like playing a game and winning,” she explains.

With the highs, come the lows: All of these factors explain why hitting the mall or pressing “add to cart” can be addicting, and why those who have participated in previous Black Friday events are more likely to return, Wallin and Plummer add. “Feeling that one has ‘earned’ or ‘found’ a good deal is a natural high,” Plummer says. “But, with all highs, there are some unexpected drawbacks — like crashing, which can look like feeling bad after exceeding a budget, shame for overshopping or forgetting what was bought and why.”

[From Yahoo]

Okay, I admit that it did feel good to grab some beauty products and running shoes at a discount. I felt like I was being strategic! To help avoid buying sale items that you may not actually need, Yahoo Life also called in some experts to share some tips on how to avoid those empty calorie purchases:

Ask yourself if you really need it: As humans, “we are more motivated to avoid loss than to pursue gain,” explains Wallin. “Thus, if something is on sale for only a limited time, and if we anticipate that it might enhance our lives in some way, we feel a sense of urgency to get it now, rather than ‘lose money’ by paying more for it later.” The catch here is, not buying The Thing at all is the most efficient, money-saving tactic — especially if it doesn’t serve an immediate need. A good question to ask yourself to avoid this conundrum: “Would I still like it or buy it if it wasn’t on sale?” If the answer is no, skip it and relish in your freedom from remorse.

Don’t be tricked by the word “free” Buy one, get one free deals are one of the oldest sale tactics in the book. But if you think about it, Wallin says, the same offer could be written as, “Buy two, get 50% off of each.” Of course, that doesn’t sound as catchy, though. “The idea of getting something for free is more compelling,” Wallin explains. So again, if you’re faced with BOGO sales – which you likely will be on Black Friday – ask yourself: “Would I pay for it if it weren’t ‘free’?”

Double check original prices: Wallin advises going into any sale event with a healthy sense of skepticism, especially when comparing sale and list prices. “There are laws against merchants posting misleading reference pricing, such as listing the regular price of an item as $100, when it was never sold at that price,” she explains. “However, this practice continues despite the laws.”

Karla Dennis, a personal finance expert and tax professional in La Palma, Calif., adds that many retailers may increase prices prior to Black Friday and then drop the price, giving the illusion of a discount. Wallin recommends using cost-verifying apps like Honey to scan price history before sealing the deal. “Be prudent and do your online research,” Dennis adds.

Keep a list and a budget — and stick to them: Retailers’ Black Friday game plan is to offer discounts on specific items in hopes to lure you into buying more, once you’re in the door. Making a list and setting a budget will, hopefully, keep you from getting too far off-track. If you know you’re prone to impulse buys, Pagnani recommends creating a separate budget for them because: “Let’s be honest, they’re going to happen,” he says.

Gift experiences instead of items: Amit Kumar, an assistant professor of marketing and psychology at the University of Texas, is a researcher whose work focuses on the study of happiness and its intersection with consumerism, among other things. And what years of research, performed by him and many others, have deduced is that “people tend to derive more satisfaction from their experiential purchases” such as travel, restaurant dinners and live performance tickets than they do from material ones, such as those made on Black Friday, he tells Yahoo Life.

I had no idea that apps existed to scan price histories, so that’s something new I just learned. I love the tip about making lists because I do that often and find it helpful. I’m also really into gifting experiences instead of giving physical items. I’m turning 40 in less than three months, and when Mr. Rosie asked me about a gift, I said that I wanted to take a trip somewhere that I’ve never been. I’m big on adventures! But honestly, I’m actually pretty thrifty throughout the year. However, there is something about these deal days that does make me tend to click “buy.” I’ll admit that it does feel good to “splurge” once in a while.

Photos credit: Heidi Fin on Unsplash and Andrea Piacquadio and Cottonbro Studios on Pexels