6 Simple Rules to Avoid Impulse Buying
We’ve always known there were a lot of things we didn’t need. How do we stop ourselves from buying them?
With the boom of online shopping, it’s getting a lot easier to max out our credit cards without a single swipe.
Here are a six rules that I personally follow to avoid impulse buying:
1.Stop Emotional Shopping — If you’re an emotional shopper like me, the time you waste browsing adds up and you’re prone to buying things you don’t need when you’re not in a bad mood.
Find other healthier ways to relieve stress that doesn’t make you burn a hole in your wallet like exercising, drawing, journaling, playing games and so on. Your problems wont go away when you buy that new gadget but you will get a bigger problem when you reach your credit card’s spending limit.
2. The 3 Day Rule
Jesus definitely knew what he was doing when he made us wait 3 days to see him again. I’ve found a good way to avoid impulse shopping is to wait three days after seeing something you want.
If you still want the item, figure out if you have space for it at home (See Rule #3 In & Out Rule) and if it’s still available. If you lose interest in getting that item, thank yourself for taking a step back.
3. In & Out Rule
Keep a set number of clothing, toiletries and make up. If you feel like you have to buy something new, you have to either donate an item from that set or wait for it to be consumed fully.
For example, I only ever keep 5 kinds of footwear at any given time (work out shoes, slippers, flats, closed toe heels and casual sandals) that I can use for every occasion. Many times we don’t actually need as many varieties at a certain point than we think and it actually encourages creativity to learn to work with less.
4. Delete. Shopping. Applications.
After working in marketing for a while, I definitely appreciate how tempting it is when a good algorithm follows up after you browse, whether through ads, emails or push notifications. As much as I loved getting fed with new things in my line of interest, my wallet definitely wasn’t.
While you can also unsubscribe to emails and install ad blockers, the most effective for me was losing the ability to browse in my idle moments and getting notified of sales. If you really need to keep your apps, avoid linking your credit cards. The extra hassle of Over the Counter, Bank Deposit and Cash on Delivery can be a useful deterrent!
5. Focus on Experience-Based Spending
I’ve always been an advocate of spending on experience and to keep me focused on them I make a list of places I want to go or things that I want to do and look at them every time I feel like spending unnecessarily.
I often already have people I’ve committed to going to these places so there’s an added layer of accountability. Time with my friends in a nice beach or this new dress? Cooking a nice home cooked dinner for my boyfriend or another skirt? A trip to Vietnam or a Starbucks Coffee? Often, I find myself choosing to save for the bigger moments than the thrill of an impulse buy.
6. Think of your life in hours
Out of all the tips in this list, this one has changed my life. Time is our most valuable asset, but why do we treat it as if it’s not?
Find a very precise number on how much an hour of your life actually costs. Then look at every item you want to buy and ask if it’s worth it. Is the way you look in that new pair of shoes worth 3 days of your life? Is that new phone worth a month of late nights? Sometimes, the answer is yes, but not as often as you think.
How about you, what tactics have you tried on yourself to avoid impulse buying?
