WE’VE all done it, of course, and it can be incredibly difficult to stop the urge to buy once it’s in us.
There’s an incredibly cool gadget that we have to have, a great pair of shoes or jeans, a book or magazine or dessert that won’t cost much.
If you’re in the store, or at an online site, the forces of advertising and marketing are sometimes too powerful to overcome.
And yet, they can be overcome, with some simple strategies.
The enemy of frugality and simplicity and your monthly budget is impulsive buying.
The trick, of course, is to think about it. It’s when the impulse urge is subconscious that it’s most dangerous.
If you give it some thought, and realise that you have the urge, you can apply these strategies to beat it.
If impulse buying has been secretly undermining your monthly budget, the website, simpledollar.com has 10 simple strategies for beating the urge.
Choose the method that works best for you, or use them in combination.
Put a 30-day list on your refrigerator, and when you have the urge to buy something, put it on the list with today’s date. After a month has passed, you can buy the item.
Make sure you don’t go to the mall. You only get the urge to buy on impulse if you’re in a shopping area (or if you’re watching TV). So, prevent the urge from happening in the first place by not going shopping. Don’t go to the mall or Walmart or other shopping areas. Only go to a store if you have a specific necessity to purchase, and go with a list.
Another very important one is don’t go to online retail sites, just as the mall will create the urge to buy, so will online sites such as Amazon. They make it too easy to buy something.
You can also monitor your urge.
Make it a point to monitor your urges, if it’s a big problem. Keep a little piece of paper, and put a tally mark on it every time you get the urge.
Take a deep breath. When you do get the urge, there are ways to calm it down. Deep breathing, self massage, walking around, and drinking water can all help control the urge.
Calculate the value in life energy.
If you’ve been a reader of The Simple Dollar for long, you know about how to calculate your true hourly wage.
Keep that number handy, and the next time you want to buy something, divide the price of the item by your true hourly wage, this will tell you how many hours of your life you had to give up to buy that item.
For those of you who have credit card, Freeze it! if using your credit card is a problem, consider giving it up completely If that’s not a good option for you, try literally freezing your card.
And finally, ask questions.
Before you buy anything, ask yourself a series of questions. Is the purchase going to improve your life in some important way? Is the purchase supposed to make you feel better?
Does it help you meet one of your life goals? Will it simplify your life?. Be honest with yourself — don’t try to sell yourself!
