In a newsletter from Suze Orman, she was talking about credit card debit. She is famous for her financial advice. In it was a little gold nugget. In this newsletter, she talks about needs vs. wants. This can be applied to those impulse purchases. Her advice is to go through your credit and debit card statements line by line. Label each as a need vs. a want. This is a great way to determine how much of your spending is a want. I am going to share some strategies to reduce your spending on wants.
Don’t despair if there are too many wants.
There are so many choices when you go shopping. What store(s) are you going to? There are racks and racks of clothes, shoes, accessories and many other beautiful things. Your intention might be to purchase a needed item, but you have to shop through the store to find it. You might find yourself passing by a gorgeous vase that says ‘buy me’. Do you really need it? Or just want it? These are the two questions you should be asking yourself. Doing this mental thought process does two things for you. First it reduces your credit card debt. Secondly it reduces the amount of stuff in your space. However, you…
Just Have to Have it.
You have walked around the store. You are trying to talk yourself out of it because you are trying to decide between want vs need. There are times when you just have to have it. We are human and we want some pleasure in our lives. If looking at that gorgeous vase gives you visual pleasure, buy it if you can afford it. Promise your self that it is a replacement for one you are not crazy about. The next step is to donate or give it away. Put it in your car so it is convenient to pass it on. It leaves you with the same amount of vases and you have not added more stuff to your space. Just $ to your credit card.
Put it All in Your Shopping Cart
When my granddaughter was younger, she used to visit us and stay for a week or more. We didn’t live close. My toy inventory was low, I would take her shopping. She liked to go to Target. She was under 5 and the toy department was the only one that interested her. I let her fill the cart with every thing that caught her eye. When we were done. I would tell her you can have only 1 thing. She would go through all of her chosen items and really review how much she wanted each one. The toy she picked, she played with a lot. As she grew, and her toy collection grew, we would go through her toys. She would donate or give away the ones she had outgrown. Doing that with the child, gives them control over their possessions. It also instills the practice of purging no longer useful items.
I use this method myself. I put things I think I need or want in the cart. Before I check out, I examine the items again. Upon further examination, without emotion, is it something I need vs want? I put back at least half.
Buying Something Just to Buy
Now she is 10 and we live much further away (about 1000 miles apart). We only get to see her twice a year now. We go shopping. It gives me pleasure to buy something that she wants. We usually go to a mall because that is where the trampoline park is located. We go to one of her favorite stores. She desperately looks for something to buy. It is like she needs to buy something. I can tell when this is the situation. I tell her let’s go look at the other store, maybe you will see something better. If not we can come back to this store. She agrees. We usually go to about 5 or 6 stores and then she gets excited because she has found something perfect. I remind her. I say that if we had bought the item in the first store, you would not have this item. She has learned that this is a better way to shop. So walk around, maybe you will see something you like more. You can always go back or you don’t buy anything.
Don’t Go Shopping Without a Need.
Do you go shopping because you are bored? Chances are you will find something that you want to buy. This is the worst time to go shopping. You may have trouble determining need vs. want. There is also another side to that coin. When you walk into a store, there is an implied expectation that you have to buy something. You don’t have to. Don’t let the implied expectation rule. It’s okay to leave the store empty handed.