How not to make impulse purchases
Text: Anton Mukhataev
From time to time, unplanned and useless purchases are made by everyone. There are reasonable grounds for this: more and more research suggests that you should not deny yourself some small pleasures too often. This does not mean that you should buy everything you want - although sometimes it is very difficult to resist. Marketers force us to spend more money than necessary: draw attention to discounts in red, put the most important goods as far as possible from the entrance, so that you always pass by less useful things, and also affect your mind through feelings.
For example, if you touch a thing, then you are more likely to buy it, smells stimulate sales, and slow music keeps you in the store. Of course, the trap goes into the trap into which human consciousness falls, such as the tendency to confirm his point of view. Many people know about such tricks, but knowledge alone does not save from senseless purchases - financial discipline is needed. We tell how to stop buying things that you do not need.
The benefits of things are more important than their value.
If the purchase is expensive, but brings you pleasure and time, then it is not worth the money. If it is cheap, but it only takes time, then you hardly need it. These two categories of things need to learn to distinguish, because a bargain is not always a good long-term investment.
Try to buy as much as possible on the Internet.
Although some of the tricks that are used in retail stores also work on sites, sellers do not affect your environment, and you make a decision under less pressure. If you still go to a retail store, then try to make a shopping list in advance - and do not assume that once a thing is sold at a discount, it means you definitely need to buy it.
Make a list of all the things that you have
After that, distribute all the things into four categories: those that are constantly needed; those that are needed sometimes; those that are not needed, but bring pleasure; and useless things. After that, think about how fairly you put things in the second and third categories - usually they are the most controversial, and many things can migrate from there to the fourth. Count the money and time spent on things from the fourth category, and part with them. It is likely that the next time you think well before you buy something. It is not necessary to do it all in one run, it is possible in several.
Postpone the purchase
If you want to buy something that you do not need urgently, is not provided for in the budget and is not included in your priorities, ask yourself a question - is it really worth it? Of course, one such question will not save from impulsive purchases, and therefore it is better to take as a rule to postpone each such waste for a week or even a month - depending on the value of the thing. It is possible that by that time you will not want to buy yourself this thing. Otherwise, you will teach your brain a deferred reward that works no worse than an immediate reward.
Prioritize
The last attempt to avoid a worthless purchase is the so-called stranger test. Ask yourself: if a stranger offered you the same amount of money, what is the cost of this thing, what would you choose - money or this thing? Perhaps you will understand that it is wiser to send this money to something else, and at the last moment you will change your mind.
Article was first published on Look At Me
Photo: Andrey Kuzmin - stock.adobe.com, Ilya Akinshin - stock.adobe.com