Impulse Buying Habits

By FutureNestEgg | June 6, 2008

We have all been victims of ‘Impulse Buying’ at one stage or another…Once or twice is acceptable but for some impulse buying is a habit. In this post I am going to suggest a few tips to overcome and defeat ‘impulse buying’ habit…But lets start by defining Impulse Buying. Impulse Buying is a spontaneous purchase of something that you had not planned to buy when you began shopping.

So Whats Tempting You?

When you decide to make a purchase (an impulse purchase), you convince yourself that you are actually getting a good deal by making this purchase at this very moment. The marketers are well aware of how human mind works…And thats why they try to tempt you with promotions, sales, convincing ad copy, free add ons (like free shipping) etc. When you are shopping online you are even more tempted to make an impulse buy…The ad copy is right there in front of you and talking to you personally – and so it is quite easy to be convinced that you are making the right decision. Another great contributor is the credit card…The cards make it all too easy for us to buy things we don’t really need.

Beat The Temptations

You can read hundreds of books on this topic but none of the methods prescribed will be effective unless you decide that it is time for a change in your spending habits…So make a resolution today…

Have financial goals…Then your focus will be on saving money to fulfill these goals. And every time you are tempted, think of what your long term goals are…

Make a list before you go shopping and under all circumstances stick to the list…

Don’t be tempted too easily – Always remember that the seller is in the business of making money…So he is acting in his own interest…And you need to act in your own interest.

And here is the biggie – If all fails, this is what you have to do – Say to yourself – “I will make this purchase, but not now…I will make the purchase in 30 days time.” 30 days is enough to get rid of the impulsiveness…30 days is enough to make you see that you don’t really need that item after all – 30 days is enough to make you put things in the order of priority and the item will get pushed down the list.