10 Inspiring Ways to Stop Wrongly Spending Money
Are You aware Ladies that most of us wrongly spend between CHF 4’000 and 6’000 as an average per year!
That is CHF 40’000 to 60’000 in a decade! That is money that could go toward Your retirement saving account, emergency fund, and even school tuition or for a mortgage down payment.
But first of all, let me give You the definition of “Impulse Purchase” from Wikipedia:
“An impulse purchase or impulse buying is an unplanned decision to buy a product or service, made just before a purchase. One who tends to make such purchases is referred to as an impulse purchaser or impulse buyer. Research findings suggest that emotions and feelings play a decisive role in purchasing, triggered by seeing the product or upon exposure to a well-crafted promotional message.”
So if You feel like You are wasting Your money buying things that You don’t need and the impulse shopping is getting out of hand, then Am sharing with You simple and practical 10 tips that I’ve done and hope they will help You too to remediate this.
Myself, I used to be such an impulsive shopper when I was younger. I spent so much money so that I wish I had known these tips before because I could have saved maybe 50 or 60 thousand Swiss Francs in my 30 and 40’s. So, I hope these tips may be useful to You.
As Always, with money things are a little bit different for everybody. So take what you feel it is convenient for your lifestyle.
Before we begin, let me know what is your biggest impulse purchase. The one that you regret the most. Am really curious to know. Let me know in the comments below. Now, let’s begin:
1- Retail Therapy Can Get Really Expensive
Don’t shop when You are emotional or when You are really stressed. I think it’s so easy to use shopping as a way to feel better, as a quick pick-me-up, retail therapy! But the problem is that shopping as a retail therapy is not efficient. It’s a short-term solution and You will feel good maybe for a couple of hours, maybe a day or two, but after that You will be back to Your “normal self”. So, I believe retail therapy is prohibitively expensive if You are an impulsive shopper and it’s just a good idea to find something else to do and deal with those emotions differently.
Let’s say that You are feeling sad. Instead of going to the mall maybe talk to a friend, watch a funny movie that You enjoy, do something else that doesn’t involve spending copious amounts of money, for cuddle therapy is by far more efficient that retail one.
And if You are felling stressed, there are other things that You can do that don’t involve spending money. Go for a walk in the park, go for exercise, do some self-care at home, things that You could do for free.
2- Shop With Intention Making a Specific List, and stick to It!
I’ve noticed that when I shop without a specific list, I tend to get carried away and I do make a lot more impulse purchases, but when I make a list and not just a generic list but with a very specific one, then Am less likely to get carried away.
3- Avoid Creating Shopping Accounts Online and Storing Your Address and Credit Card Info on It. Check out as a Guest!
Usually, when You shop online, shops want us to create an account storing our credit card’s information, so that next time You shop with them, it is just a matter of a click of a button and it becomes so easy to shop.
The problem is that if You are an impulse shopper, it is a little too easy to shop. If You want to avoid those impulse purchases, my suggestion is to check out as a guest and not like someone who has an account. By checking out as a guest, You will need to physically enter Your name, Your address and Your credit card information and let me tell You, I abandoned so much shopping carts in the past because I was too lazy to get my credit card out of my wallet.
So, there we go! If You are an impulse shopper, this can act as a deterrent, so just avoid to creating accounts and check out as a guest instead.
4- Buy Physical Items From Stores That Have a Return Policy, Keep Your Receipts, and Don’t Be Lazy For the Returns!
Try to buy things from shops that have a return policy and keep the receipts. I can tell You the number of times I have purchased something then I’ve quickly regretted it the next day and I couldn’t turn it because the store did not have a return policy or I lost the receipt or I took the tags off.
So, my suggestion is don’t take the tags off, keep Your receipts for 7 days and try to avoid buying things from places that have no return policy.
My philosophy now is if it has no a return policy Am not buying it. I don’t buy things on final sale because that is how You end up buying things you don’t really need.
5- Sleep On The Decision Especially If The Item Is Above CHF 100!
I have a rule: if the item is over CHF 100.- I don’t buy it the day I see it. If it is at the mall or online, I won’t buy it. I will sleep on it for at least a day or two or three nights and I can’t tell You the number of times I’ve completely forgotten about it in two or three days.
So, give Yourself a little time to think through that decision and who knows You might change Your mind about it.
6- Avoid Joining Email Lists from Stores, Get Rid of All Current Email Subscriptions
A lot of times when You shop online or even in the store, stores will ask You for Your email address in exchange for a coupon or something of that sort.
The problem with that is while the coupon may seem very nice in the beginning, they are going to keep sending You emails again and again and You are going to end up buying more things. Things that You don’t need.
My suggestion is to unsubscribe from all those email lists, so that You don’t have to face temptations all the time. I believe for an impulse shopper, the biggest thing You can do is remove the temptations. By doing so You’re not just going to shop as much.
7- Avoid Shopping with Friends That Push You to Buy Things
We all have friends that help us make really good decisions. Go shopping with them but then we also have friends that make us buy things that we don’t need.
They kind of push to impulsive shopping and tell us that everything looks good on us… when in fact it really doesn’t!
So, don’t go shopping with those people. Don’t go shopping with people You don’t really trust in terms of their opinion and push You into making bad decisions.
8- Remind Yourself of Your Financial Goals Regularly: Create Financial Goals and Review Them Monthly!
If You don’t have Your financial goals before shopping then I do suggest having some – just a number and what You are saving it for.
I think it can be very helpful in changing Your mindset about money. I didn’t have financial goals before so I used to spend because I didn’t really care, but now I do and I remind myself of my financial goals regularly and because of that Am less likely to make impulse purchases.
So, my suggestion is if You don’t have goals, sit down and think about what Your goals might be. It could be something really simple – I want to save CHF 5’000 for an emergency fund. Whatever it may be just write it down and think about it regularly, so that You know what You are trying to do and You are not going to be less likely carried away with Your impulse purchases.
9- Re-evaluate What You Own Already The Next Time You Are Shopping: Ask Yourself If You Already Own Something That Serves The Same Purpose
Let’s say Am shopping for a pair of jeans and I see a nice pair… it’s very easy to get carried away thinking “it’s on sale. It looks good. I need it!”
But then take a moment to re-evaluate whether or not You already own something that is similar. Sometimes You actually have exactly the same color at home and You don’t really need the extra pair.
10- Make It a Game with a Jar Method. Take It further: Move the “Savings” Into a Saving Account at The End of The Month!
This is something that I recently stated and I’ve been enjoying it. So, every single time I avoid an impulse purchase, I write down the item and the amount and put it on a piece of paper and stick it in a jar.
And then, at the end of the month I look at all of the little pieces of paper in the jar and tally up the amount that I avoided spending. It is actually quite a bit special if You end up saving that amount each month. So, I’m going to continue doing this and hopefully by the end of the year I might have a good amount saved up.
This is just a little funny thing that You could do to reward Yourself every single time You avoid an impulse purchase.
Conclusion
Get to root reason of Your impulse consumptions …Talk to a therapist if that is something You are open to!
If You have tried everything as well as tips from other coaches and You are still struggling with Your impulse spending maybe it’s time to take a step back and figure out the underlying of this issue. It could be something like anxiety. It could be something like sadness. It could be a multitude of different things but You need to figure out the root reasons, so that You can work on a solution. If You need help, maybe it’s time to talk to a therapist.
Embrace ecological consumption and aspects of minimalism, I think out of all the suggestions in this article, the one thing that helped me the most is becoming more minimalist, becoming more conscious in my consumption ethically and ecologically wise. I do recognize that it is not for everybody but at the same time we don’t need to completely become minimalists. Some of us may just want to embrace aspects of it. I believe minimalism is a spectrum – we can all do it in our own way and if it can help You become a little more aware and mindful of Your purchases and overall consumption, You will be proud of Yourself for big changes are the result of the small actions.
Why Not? Live a HAPPY LIFE with LESS!