How to Avoid Impulse Purchases & Make Your Wallet Behave

So many options. So many wants. Who doesn’t want those new toys or crave those great deals?

Never fear.  Today I am going to teach you how to avoid those impulse purchases.

Marketing. It is all around us, making impulse purchases harder to resist. Advertisers continually tell you, “You need this, you want that, you deserve this!”

We are bombarded with ads, confronted with thousands per day. But, we can develop strategies to resist those impulse purchases and make our wallet behave.

Here are five tips to help you avoid that inevitable impulse.

1. Skip the Commercials

Turn off the commercials. If you have cable, pre-record your shows and skip right over those ads. Who needs them?

You can even consider cutting cable entirely. Learn how by watching my previous Savvy Saturday video, “A 7 Step Guide to Cutting the Cord!”

If you have a subscription to something like Hulu, pay the measly few additional dollars per month to skip over those commercials.

2. Use a Pop-Up Blocker

First of all, pop-up blockers are great for your safety; but, they are also great for avoiding ads or potential impulse purchases.

Find a good pop-up blocker, like UBlock, to help you avoid being bombarded with advertisements.

Less marketing in your face means less impulses. 

You can avoid those marketing seeds from being planted in your brain and falling victim to online shopping by avoiding the temptation altogether.

3. Stay Informed. Do Your Research!

Do research on the item you are thinking of buying and pay attention to price trends. That way when it goes on sale, you are not being impulsive. Instead, you know when it goes on sale and approximately for how much because you’ve done your research.

A great tool for this with at least the online purchases is The Camelizer.  I explain this and other tools in my Savvy Saturday video, “3 Online Shopping Hacks“.

You have to be prepared and educated so that you can plan for the really good sale that will eventually pop up.

4. Sleep On It

When it comes time to make that big purchase or you see yourself being tempted to make impulse purchases, wait! Give yourself a chance to use your whole brain!

Research shows if you wait 24 hours to make a purchase, your left brain will come in stronger and help balance your right brain, allowing you to make a whole brain decision.

Sleep on it. Give it 24 solid hours before you make a decision.

When it comes to the small decisions, the 24-hour “sleep on it” philosophy will help you avoid unnecessary purchases all together.

By waiting, you put your emotions aside and make a much more informed decision.

5. Use Cash

Using cash is powerful!

Using cash also saves you money. I recently saved 10% off the purchase of a used vehicle because I paid in cash. Cash speaks!

When you use cash, you will save more and spend less. But, more importantly, there is tangibility in paying with cash as you feel the cost of your purchase even more.

Research shows you spend less when you use cash. You resist the urge to be impulsive.

So, what do you do when tempted to make impulse purchases?

Go through this list to make sure the decisions you make and thought process you employ mean the purchase makes sense.

Download my free e-book today to get more tips to help avoid those impulse purchases and put these five helpful tips to good use, which will keep your wallet heavy and your heart light.

Question: What did you learn this week about avoiding those impulse purchases?

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