Tips To Curb Impulse Buying

How do we curb impulse buying? You know what I mean, buying less crap. But we don't say impulse buying without a reason. Human beings are irrational when faced with choices.

Just ask my wife when she goes on her weekly therapy of window shopping. She has been kinder to my wallet and credit cards ever since we got serious about balancing our family budget but she still fall prey to impulse buying occasionally.


Needless to say, my money management goals for the month is busted when I looked at her shopping bills after returning from those once-in-a-lifetime Sales.

To be frank, I am frustrated by impulse buying but I don't believe in shouting or banging tables to resolve money conflicts. Such activities are unproductive and will only cause a happy family to split up.

Instead, I sit down with her, review our household budget and explain what sacrifices we have to make to offset this sudden expense. I also reiterate the importance of a joint effort in achieving our financial goals. There will be "punishments" for breaking our family budget too.

Now, precaution is certainly better than cure. Rather than antagonize over the impulse purchases, fighting the urge in the first place will save all the trouble. Here are some tips we have used to prevent impulse buying.

You may have heard these cliched tips before and though they are not the most inspiring, I assure you they go a long way towards curbing our age old habits.

1. Define what you need before you shop. Go into the store with a specific goal so that you never get tempted by instant gratifications.

2. Go home and wait a day before returning to buy. After rationalizing the purchase, you may not want to make the return trip back to store. Just think of the gas bills.

3. Do not shop when you are depressed, lonely, hungry, angry, worried, tired, etc. You will be most vulnerable to impulse buying and the momentary high will result in weeks of regret and penny pinching.

4. Comparison shop for the best price rather than buy the item on impulse when you first see it.

5. Think of a punishment if you burst the budget or use the credit card again(for example, there will be no vacations and you will have to cook and do the dishes for an entire month).

6. Appreciate the simple things in life. Treasure what we have, inclduing the used stuff. We already have enough junk in our house and should be giving them out to charity instead of buying more.