The Money Skinny™ is overflowing with gift gratitude for Twitter and JCPenney for providing a gifting home run.  You know that special gift the recipient wouldn’t buy for her or himself because it’s too expensive or not a necessity.  It may be something on the luxury or frivolous level that bypasses the brain but makes the heart sing.  Recall The Money Skinny™ mission is to save you time and money.  I found that special gift for my two daughters that should have saved me time and most definitely saved me money via Twitter at JCPenney.  I gifted both daughters a $54 eye shadow palette.  Just a minute.  The Money Skinny™ spent more than a hundo on eye shadow?  Before you think I’ve lost my mind, let’s take a closer look at some gifting rationale.

To clarify, The Money Skinny™ is not a website that promotes coupons.  Why?  Coupons encourage spending.  Our goal is to help you align spending to what is important to you.  Not what’s on sale or a good deal.  Coupons and sales can be great tools to save money.  However, a The Money Skinny™ truism is that a purchase is not a good deal if it’s something you don’t need.  I know myself.  I am drawn to a bargain like a divining rod to water.  I want to purposely look for what I need, not be bombarded with a bunch of stuff that I don’t.  To avoid temptation, I’ve unsubscribed and disconnected from deal and promo websites.  For gifting, I like to move closer to the recipient’s wants than needs.   Engaging both my head and heart.

Baby Boomers splashed through high school in a river of Jean Nate and Brut.  Those four-dollar drugstore products were potent!  My general level setting on spending during the fragrant high school years was that minimum wage was about the price of admission to a movie.  A four-hour shift retail associating was a little less than four movie admissions.   That history just won’t let me spend $54 plus tax on one eyeshadow palette.  It’s not being cheap or miserly.  It’s stopping the insanity.  $54 for eyeshadow???  C’mon now.  I don’t value that product that much.  My fuzzy math says fourteen shades at $54 is almost $4 per color.  Furthermore, how many of those colors are the same/overlap with what’s already moldering away in the back of a drawer?  Again, sorry-not-sorry, NO.

Gift Gratitude for Twitter and JCPenney

Retail industry analysts report that price discounting was necessary during the 2016 holiday season to push customers to spend.  Peeking through my Twitter feed in early December was a half-off eyeshadow palette sale at JCPenney/Sephora.  $27 is still a lot of dough for a three by seven-inch box but not outrageous.  Translating a palette into about two movie admissions seemed reasonable.  I pounced on an eyeshadow palette for each daughter through the JCPenney website as detailed in The Money Skinny™ article JCPenney Shopping – The Good and Not-So-Good.  I am that customer that required discounting to reduce the product price to match its value to me.  Without the sale, I would have purchased a different product or perhaps just gifted cash.  I very much appreciate that Twitter and JCPenney made these home run gifts happen.