Money Moral Dilemma: Should you give your best mate a £1 pressie?
MSE_Martin
Posts: 8,272
Money Saving Expert
Here's this week's hypothetical situation for you to cogitate on:
Should you give your best mate a £1 pressie?
It’s your closest, oldest friend’s birthday and you’ve been racking your brains about what to get them. Normally you spend £30-ish on each other. But then you spot a loophole on the magazine offers thread to get their favourite perfume/aftershave free with a £1 subscription. It’s worth £30 and is the kind of pressie you might have picked out anyway. Yet you feel a twinge of guilt about only forking out £1, when they always spend more. Should you give your best friend a pressie that cost a quid?
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Martin Lewis, Money Saving Expert.
Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
Please note, answers don't constitute financial advice, it is based on generalised journalistic research. Always ensure any decision is made with regards to your own individual circumstance.
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Comments
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Nah, it's tight
Give them the perfume / aftershave they like and get something else (maybe related from the same range). You'll look really generous and have only spent as much as you normally would.0 -
Course, they won't know the difference
I've done similar things before lol.0 -
I did this for the kids at Christmas and designed a voucher for it. If it was my best friend I'd get them this but a bit of something else too.Sealed Pot Challenge #817 £50 banked0
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If it is exactly as the dilemma says above, then yes, I would.Be nice, life is too short to be anything else.0
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Yes, I'd do it! If it's the sort of ting I'd buy anyway, what does it matter? I'd not be bothered if a friend of mine did the same - shows they're not daft. Also, if I gave them the perfume AND bought something else, they'd probably then feel they had to get me more for my birthday which would be even more money to spend!0
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yes its the thought that counts
people are too hung up on price tags and not on the fact that you have bought them something they like
Slimming world start 28/01/2012 starting weight 21st 2.5lb current weight 17st 9-total loss 3st 7.5lb
Slimmer of the month February , March ,April
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I would rather somebody spent £1 on something I really wanted, enjoyed and would get pleasure from than £120 on 'stuff' that was a meaningless waste of money. Thought really does count.
(OH please note!)I can cook and sew, make flowers grow.0 -
Absolutely - yes I would - call me a cheap skate but if it's the genuine thing and it was her favourite then it doesn't matter how I bought it. It's only like giving her the 'free' item from a 3 for 2 deal from Boots at ChristmasAnywhere is within walking distance - if you have the time!!0
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Yes, and that would be all i would buy. My lads best friend is having one of the "free" items that i got in games workshop when i spent a hundred on my son`s birthday present last week for his birthday.( All the family clubbed together to pay the bill as the deals were better on a larger spend)0
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If it's what you'd have bought anyway, where's the harm in getting it a little cheaper?
I'd maybe 'top up' with a little 'extra' present they wouldn't have got otherwise, but if that present cost a fiver they get what they really want, an extra present, and it still only cost £6 instead of £300
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