Check this graphic out about Internet spending in 2009. And we all thought we were broke. Or, err, maybe this demonstrates why we are broke. Too much crazy spending, almost all of it by credit card, and on stuff we probably don’t need. Last year, my wife and I emerged stunned to find out that for the first time in 20 years of marriage, we had slipped into debt. While most of it was for normal life stuff things that a family with 3 children (1 teenager and 2 on the way) goes through, we also found ourselves staring at way too many iTunes downloads (which, sadly, was mostly me).
I mean, its pretty amazing to consider that each person who made purchases spent over $1000, and that’s just online shopping. $1000 on, say, food would not be high at all, of course, but most people aren’t buying food online. Instead, like my iTunes shopping, they are basically buying stuff that we don’t really need.
Anyway, some shopping is legitimate and real deals can be found online. Just make sure that you are buying things for which you already have the money set aside.