Frugal fatigue leads to rise in fun splurge purchases

Frugal fatigue has set in across the land and given a bump in sales to fun splurges, according to The New York Times.

Purses, perfumes, cosmetics, wine and pre-mixed cocktails are all selling at retailers. In particular, premade drinks have seen a 24% rise in sales last year after having declined so heavily early in the recession.

I was in Aldi this past weekend. Usually when you walk in, there’s an initial aisle that’s geared to sweets, cookies, chip and the like. Now when you walk in, there must be eight different varieties of wine in the aisle.

Like all retailers, Aldi tracks its SKUs and they’ve seen that people are migrating to the alcoholic stuff. For my money, I think wine tastes like cough medicine and I never drink it. But at $2 a pop, I have to struggle not to pick up a bottle just to have around the house for guests!

We are in a mode where we want to have something that makes us feel good. Kohl’s notes that watches, purses and shoes were the strong sellers during their most recent reporting period.

In my book, there’s nothing wrong with an occasional splurge as long as you keep your overall financial house in order.