Personal Finance Budgeting » How to Avoid Impulse Buying

First you should answer these five impulse buying related questions truthfully:

1. Does your spouse or partner complain that you spend too much money?
2. Are you surprised, when your credit card bill arrives at how much more you charged than you thought you had?
3. Do you have more shoes and clothes in your closet than you could ever possibly wear?
4. Do you own every new gadget before it has time to collect dust on a retailer’s shelf?
5. Do you buy things you didn’t know you wanted until you saw them on display in a store?

If you answered “yes” to at least two of the above questions, you are an impulse buyer and most likely indulge yourself in retail therapy.

This is not a good thing, if you care about your personal finance. Budgeting and saving for important things like a house, a new car, a vacation or retirement will be difficult. You must set some financial goals and resist buying items that really don’t matter in the long run.

Impulse buying will not only put a strain on your personal finance, but often on your relationship as well. To overcome the problem, the first thing to do is learn to separate your needs from your wants.

Impulse Control

The trick is to give yourself a cooling-off period before you buy anything that you have not planned for. When you go shopping, make a list and only take enough cash to pay for what you have planned to buy. Leave your credit cards at home.

If you see something you think you really need, give yourself a day or two to decide if it is really something you need or can you easily do without. Planning is an easy solution to impulse buying, which will often mend both your personal finance and your relationship.

Tools and Techniques: budgeting, credit, impulse buying, personal finance, planning