How to Avoid Impulse Purchases

With the holidays come and gone and a LONG stretch of winter yet to come, it’s easy to pass the time with shopping.  Plus, now is the time they start clearancing  out pretty much EVERYTHING from the holiday rush.  The temptation to grab a killer deal is in your face pretty much every time you walk into the store.  All those great deals can add up–financially and physically cluttering your space.

Here’s few tips to get past the impulse to buy all of those steals you come across:

1. Set a time limit.  Maybe something like a week?  If you are still thinking about it in a week, it’s probably something you would use.
2. Don’t use shopping to cure a bad mood.  It’s a nasty trap to fall into, and it really doesn’t, in the long run, fix the problem.
3. Stay out of stores.  Period.  It’s really easy to avoid shopping–or finding that serving dish you didn’t even know you HAD to have if you never step foot inside the store.  Plus, on the bright side, you won’t even know about the “deals” you are missing.
4. Remember what your mom used to say?  Birds of a feather flock together.  This applies with impulse shopping.  Avoid going shopping with friends who also have impulse shopping habits.  It’s easier to slip up and justify an unnecessary purchase when you have help.
5. Replace the urge to go shopping with another healthier habit.  For example, clean something or exercise.
6. Keep yourself busy with meaningful tasks.  I know that sounds super cheesy, but if you don’t have time to shop, you won’t.
7. Apply the one in, one out rule.  If you buy something new, you have to get rid of something you already have.   I have a friend who did this with shoes.  She got a shoe rack and all of her shoes have to fit on the one rack.  If she buys new, she has to get rid of a pair–if she doesn’t have any she wants to get rid of, she doesn’t buy new pairs.
8. Even if you do make a purchase, remember stores have return policies for a reason.  You still have the opportunity to take it back {if it is unused, of course} if you get it home and feel remorse.
9. Establish a self-imposed layaway plan.  Divide the cost of the item up over a month or several {this obviously applies to those bigger purchases}.  Put money aside each week.  If you don’t have money to put aside one week, the purchase date gets set back.  If at the end of the “layaway” you have the money and still have the desire to purchase, you’ll know it’s a solid, guilt-free purchase.
10. Pay cash.  Cash is still king.  Using a credit card gives you instant gratification in that you get to have the item right away, but the bill still comes.  Using cash may make you think harder about the purchase.

How about YOU, how do you avoid impulse purchases?

~Mavis