Yes, It's on Sale. That's Not the Point.

The Memorial Day sale isn't saving us money. It gives us cover to shop.

May 23, 2026

What Memorial Day sales are really selling us — and why we keep buying. — 17 Emails and Counting…

By the time you read this, you’re probably up to 17. That’s the number of new emails since you last checked, all announcing Memorial Day sales. The same sales they’ve been hitting us with for a week. Nothing new.

I speak from experience and as an urgent reminder to myself to just DELETE the emails. Don’t open them. The result is always the same. I fill my cart with stuff just because of the price. We find something we weren’t looking for, don’t need, don’t want — but goddamnit it’s on sale.

When it shows up, I hate it. And then it’s all shit I have to waste time returning. Because I want my money back. It’s an endless cycle and it all starts the same way. We lull ourselves with the self-soothing scroll.

To help myself, I’ve come to think of my shopping in 2 categories:

The items I’ve already decided to buy, on sale or not.
The random stuff that shows up at my front door. Always the result of an emotional scroll, convincing myself I’m saving money.

And while it might sound clean, it can be a slippery slope, where items in my nice clean “yes” bucket can slide into the “no” category. Let me show you how.

Category 1: The List

These are the items I’ve already decided to purchase soon:

The orangey-red silk shirt that’s already in my cart. I know the brand and where I’m buying it from.
A pair of midrise khaki shorts that are longish but still short enough they’re above my knee. No pleats and definitely not baggy. I haven’t found them — yet.
A new pair of brown leather sandals that show plenty of skin but still let me walk a mile.
Two cashmere sweaters: dark navy and chocolate. In the blue I don’t know if I’ll get a deep v-neck or a cardigan. The brown will be a pullover.

Category 2: Everything Else

Here’s the dirty trick we play on ourselves. When we get a compliment on something we’re wearing, it’s much more acceptable to say “Oh I got it on sale.” Nobody says “I paid full price” — even when they did. I say this as someone who has literally driven to a different grocery store to save $1 on a whole watermelon. I’m not proud but was eating a lot of it at the time.

Retailers are smart and know how to play to our fears. They know consumer sentiment just hit a new all-time low. I’m not above this. None of us are. I have a job — today — but no illusion that I’m safe. The job market sucks. I know what my lifestyle costs and what would have to change if the paycheck stopped.

Only 13% of us expect the economy to improve over the next year. Which intensifies our fear of buying the wrong thing. So we scroll more, convinced the right version is one click away.

Our anxiety doesn’t make us stop — it makes us more obsessive. More desperate to be sure.

The Slip

Already this weekend I started to slip. Take my chocolate brown cashmere sweater. Cashmere is hard — it’s all about the fit and feel of the fabric. It’s tough to buy online and likely will need to be an IRL buy. There is one on sale at Bloomingdale’s right now. “Is this the one?” I won’t know until I buy it, try it on, and probably return it. That’s the trap — and that’s the whole weekend gone.

But this time, I don’t buy. It’s why I keep unsubscribing from every retailer I’ve ever bought from. I don’t need the temptation and I know it’s a trick I fall for. The sale doesn’t really save us any money. It just gives us cover.

So this Memorial Day weekend I’ll buy the silk top. Yes, it’s on sale. That’s not the point. I won’t scroll for more. I’ll be digging in the garden, reading a book or taking Radio on a long walk. And eating watermelon.