A Personal Finance Guide

How to Avoid Impulse Buying

Are you surprised each month when your credit card bill arrives to find that you have been charged more than you thought you had spent? This is likely to be as a result of impulse buying. Not only will impulse buying put a strain on your finances but also on your relationships. As money gets tight and household budgets start to get stretched it is important to control your spending.

The first step to avoid impulse buying is to learn to separate your needs from your wants.

If you see something you think you need, give yourself two weeks to decide if it is really is something you need or is it something you can do without. Give yourself a cooling-off period before you start buying anything that you have not planned for.

Set some financial goals and resist buying items that really don’t matter in the long run. You could find that the ‘bargain’ you bought on sale last year is still being paid for on the credit card and you haven’t even used it yet. This is what so often happens with impulse buying.

When you go grocery shopping, make a list and take only enough cash to pay for what you have planned to buy. Leave your credit card at home. In fact why not use a notebook rather than just a list? Record the prices of items you regularly buy and each time you shop you can see trends in pricing and specials. This way you can more accurately estimate your required cash and take advantage of specials.

Do not shop when you are hungry. You will only be tempted by all the snack foods and cookies.

You will find that the grocery store is set up to help you spend your money. Usually the vegetables, bread, meat, fish and dairy are on the outer isles with all the temptation items down the middle. Unless the chips and sweets are on your list for some reason, such as for a party, look at the isle guides and give them a miss.

These are only some of the ways to avoid impulse buying. You also will find they are some of the most important to master in order to get your finances on track, out of debt or just in a better financial position.

Lyn Bell has been in the finance industry for more than 30 years and is a Certified Financial Planner. She has helped many clients achieve their financial goals. Lyn can be visited at her website http://www.soundfinance.com and her blog at http://www.soundfinanceblog.blogspot.com