Well, it isn’t really a shopping mall. It is the Atlanta Gift Market. It is where retail shop buyers shop. I am here for one of the two large shopping markets that are held each year. One is in January, and the other is in July. I recall the first time I went to the Market many years ago. I was overwhelmed, as I am each time I go. I vowed to never pay full price for retail again. I am sure that I have not held totally true to that pledge, but it is true that I rarely pay retail prices for many things.

The reason I am at the Gift Market is to purchase items for my antiques and gifts business, which I have had for many years. It is truly a side business and fills my need for beauty. While I do not net much revenue from it, I have learned how to not lose too much money at it. Since reducing debt is my main goal for 2024, I will be evaluating the financial impact of this love of mine to make sure that it is truly profitable.    

Being at the Gift Market has magnified the difficulty in keeping one of my commitments. I made a decision/commitment a couple of years ago to support American businesses, and especially small businesses. One aspect of that decision was to not buy anything that I knew was made in China. That is quite difficult, as you might know, since many items are made in China. This decision is not about concerns about the quality of items made in China. It is about doing my small part to begin to turn the tide from America’s dependence on lower-priced Chinese goods and, hopefully, to return some of the manufacturing of goods to the United States. My decision also relates to the increased geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and China. This decision does not extend to other Asian countries or other countries; it is specific to China. While I can’t do much to impact our dependence on China, I can do this.

Just like January each year, people are not shopping in physical stores much this month. I suppose all of the shopping at Christmas has many people focused on paying for those purchases and not making many more purchases yet. Even with big box stores full of items for Valentine’s Day and Easter, in-person retail is slow. I wonder if the slowdown in in-person retail extends to online sales.  I expect that it does, although I imagine online sales are more robust than in-store sales. Amazon is probably still doing fine.

I had an interesting situation a few days ago. I had a charge I did not recognize from Amazon on my debit card. I thought it was a fraud charge and disputed it with my bank, which required that my debit card be cancelled. Soon after, I realized that it was an automatic charge for Amazon Prime, in the amount of $149.43. I was shocked at the amount, realizing that I was probably not getting the value from Amazon Prime. The only reason I use Amazon Prime is for free shipping, and I do not order enough items per year to warrant that charge. I do not really know how much the shipping charges for the items I buy would be, but I want to know that, and decide if I should just pay for shipping and avoid the annual fee. This is similar to the other membership fees that get paid without even thinking about them, and they add up.  

Amazon has gotten too easy. I am not anti-Amazon, but If I really want to support small businesses, I need to buy more from small local businesses and less from Amazon.

I think I am rambling. What is this about? It started off about shopping and is now about mindfulness. Shopping is not a problem, but spending money we do not need to spend is, whether the spending relates to online, in-store, or on things like membership charges. Mindfulness in spending money is a worthy goal, especially at the beginning of the year, and especially if the goal is to reduce debt. So, I plan to evaluate all of my expenses and decide which ones to eliminate or reduce.

What about you? Do you have any money goals this year? If so, it is time to get started on seeing those goals realized. January is more than half over.

Let’s get started.