TIPS TO STOP IMPULSE SHOPPING

 Everything is available in this world at a click of a button on our mobile, be it grocery, clothing, food, furniture etc.Impulse buying is a common behaviourial problem these days. Resisting the craving of impulse shopping is difficult but not impossible. I too am fighting the same battle as many of you who are struggling with the habit of unnecessary buying. Hankering or impulse buying is related to unhappiness and anxiety, and controlling this would improve our psychological health. I shall share few tips which I adopted to come out of this web of impulse buying.

We need to understand What motivates us to buy any object? Question your shopping with logic . Do you really need it? We need to understand the need and want of that particular object we wish to buy. Mostly people who are very much active in the social networks wish to look better and picture perfect, be it garments,shoes, makeup, etc or home  decoration stuff, kitchen stuff etc.

 My first suggestion would be to delete all shopping apps except which are very very essential. We have so many brands and shopping apps to browse through in our free time and keep on buying. It is found that 60%of people have made their purchase sitting on the toilet. I understand we all need to buy clothing or groceries or anything else to be picture perfect, but for that, we can take a little time out and go out to the shop and just not buy at a click without having a look at the quality of product we are buying. All the brands create these shopping apps so that they can reach you on an everyday basis . Especially clothing which we keep on buying, even if we need it or not. So get out of these traps and delete all these apps which you really don't need. 

We are always on the social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube, etc where we follow many people other than our friends and family like celebrities and vloggers or influencers, who show what they buy or wear, how they decorate their house, haul videos  or showcase pictures of what is in the trend in case of dress, makeup or decorating house also buy expensive gadgets. All those things only makes us tempted to buy unnecessary things. My next suggestion would be unfollow them.

Create a wishlist when you want to purchase something, A wishlist allows a shopper to create list of products they want to buy and save them for future reference. Best way to avoid impulse buy is one can save the product they want to buy in the shopping cart or write in your wishlist diary and save it for at least 30 days. If you feel after 30 days that you still want to  still buy the product, then purchase it otherwise delete it. If 30 days seems to be too long then atleast keep it for 15 days then check your urge for buying it. Don't buy anything immediately keep it in your wishlist and wait for few days think with logic if you really need it otherwise delete it. This helped me a lot personally.

Earlier during our childhood time our parents  bought dresses may be twice or only on special occasions, also groceries on monthly basis, we really had some discipline in life and lifestyle. Continuously question your buy and only buy when it is necessary.

Now if you wish to buy something expensive or inexpensive plan it in prior start saving money for it and create and account for your buys. This account should not use your monthly expense  money rather it should be the savings from it. Save up before buying. See the product price and save money and don't look at it , you must accumulate in such an account which you can't access easily. keep it and forget it.

While studying about impulse buying I came across a term "Capsule Wardrobe" which seemed to me a wonderful way to minimalize one's wardrobe and avoid excessive expenditure. This term Capsule wardrobe was used during 1940s in American fashion world which sigfied a small collection of garments which were designed to be worn together and harmonised in colour and line. This particular term was again revived by in 1970s by the owner of a London based boutique  "Wardrobe" Susie Faux. According to her there should be collection of few essential items of clothing which can be paired with different ways and it doesn't go out of fashion. By following this too we can stop ourselves on spending lot of money buying too many clothes to match up the recent trends rather we can make our own style statement.  Fashion changes now and then but  style evolves slowly and reflects a persons attitude and lifestyle , it is not temporary as fashion. It will also declutters our wardrobe and make us  feel happy to see those empty space in our wardrobe and save thousands and thousands of money. One more way we can declutter is by discarding atleast two old garments before we by one new garment, this will make you feel relaxed and relieved from hoarding things.

But most important is to create a connection with why you want to stop impulse buying, it is just to save money by less shopping then your journey toward smart buying may not last for longer period. To stay focussed on the idea one must have proper intention and create a connection towards the goal.

I am trying to stay focussed on my journey of compulsive purchasing and hope that my friends who are struggling will get some help from my tips and tricks . Happy smart shopping.