Pride is a funny thing. People often spend money to impress people they don’t even like, based on their pride. They want to feel superior in some way, but in the end, pride is about insecurity.
When it comes to making returns at a store, there are some people whose pride won’t let them do it because they don’t want to seem cheap. I am WAY over that; heck, I’ve even returned a pack of gum because it tasted horrible. If I buy food that spoils too fast (before the expiration date) I have no problems returning it. It’s amazing though, how we can let even larger purchases that we aren’t happy with just sit around and cost us money.
I encourage you to look for ways you can be more diligent about making returns, as silly as it seems. I know some people who are just quick to throw things away if they go bad too quickly, or if they don’t work as expected.
If you ever have a question about whether or not a return is worth the money, I say do the check test. What’s the check test? That’s where I ask you how much money you paid for it and if you don’t think it’s a lot of money, you can write me a check for the same amount. It’s funny (when I ask that question) how people all of a sudden seem to care about the money. They wouldn’t write a stranger a check, but they’d easily let the same amount of money slip through their own hands. Better yet, write those checks to yourself, by making the returns and starting a return fund. You might be amazed at what you save and how intentional you become with your spending.
If you have stuff you’ve never returned, but don’t want or need, it’s not too late. You can always sell it at a yard sale or on eBay or find someone in your community who needs it and can buy it from you.
What about you? Are you someone who is disciplined and frugal enough to return stuff you don’t need or does not work that way you expected it to?