Black Friday is one big loophole and I disappear into it

My email shows a red one. Without thinking wisely, I click open the inbox and an exclusive-for-me-only-you-must-not-miss offer appears and here I go again. I scroll and I scroll and I look and compare, while I just promised myself that I wouldn't do it. Black Friday tries to grab me from all sides and I disappear a little more each day.

On Monday night I was in bed with the Bijenkorf, Tuesday morning I woke up even before getting up with Farfetch and in the evening on the couch I took a trip to Omoda, Zalando, and Paul Warmer. I filled my cart at least fifteen times, only to empty it again fifteen times. Just in the nick of time, because I almost clicked on my PayPal icon to check out as if it were a matter of course. But I promised myself something: I won't buy things I don't need this week. And that's why this Black Friday turns into the week from hell. I actually don't need that much.

Now that we are naming the beast, how is it possible that this one day drives me crazy for a week? It's a Friday, which still translates to Friday. So it should be one day of fun. That day quickly seeped into the weekend towards Cyber Monday (another one), but now stores are starting this nonsense a week in advance. And I must say, they are doing it smartly. Send me an email in which you make me believe that as a loyal member of some random hut I get priority, then I will take a look.

Black Friday loophole (let's just make it a verb) completely consumes me. After every email or carousel on Insta, I disappear into a website, only to blink my eyes an hour later and come back to my senses. Sometimes not in time, because suddenly there are packages at the neighbors in a miraculous way. Where I then have to do the walk of shame. Yesterday I had to visit three (!) addresses. One for DHL, the other for PostNL, and BudBee was also on the corner of the street. At address three, I stood at the door with my arms full and the shame red on my cheeks. I've only lived here for five weeks, so I couldn't fool them much. It was written on my forehead: taken in by Black Friday.

To be honest, I look forward to the days after Black Friday, then the sale starts and you know exactly what to expect. Until then, I clench my jaws and try to ask myself the questions: do I need this and does it make me happy? But that is only after I have wasted hours of my time on yet another site with the very best deals for my sad little self. I wish everyone a lot of strength from the bottom of my wallet.