There are a number of ways to stop impulse buying if it’s causing problems for you each month.  Take a look at this list of 20 different ideas to stop impulse buying.  See if you can apply all or any combination of these to your situation to change this behavior.

20 Tips to Stop Impulse Buying and Get Spending Under Control

1.  Keep impulse buying cash with you

Okay, if you’re set on spending a little money every time you go to the store take a little bit of blow money or cash with you and use it for impulsive buying.  The only rule is you can’t buy something that costs more than the total of your cash.

2.  Take some time to think about your purchases

Taking 24 hours, or a few days (or even a week) will most often help you determine if it’s truly a need.

3.  Keep your financial goals in mind

Ultimately, you want to get out of debt, right?  You may want to build wealth by investing, right?  Well, you can’t do those things if you’re spending all of your money.  What are your current goals?  Keep them in mind the next time you want to spend more than you have.

4.  Determine if it’s a want or a need

Asking yourself if you’re purchasing a want or need is helpful to curtail spending.  Try to limit most of your spending to need related items.  Could you really not get by without the item this month? 

5.  Recognize some impulse buying is not all bad

It’s fair to recognize you may come across the best deal of the century.  So, if you can buy 1 box of diapers and get 4 for free go ahead and spend if it’s within your budget.  Just recognize that the advertiser’s job is to make every deal seem like it’s the deal of the century.

6.  Shop with a list or a plan

Having a game plan is important.  Try to only focus on the items that are on your list.  Great deal or deal of the century you say?  At least give it some thought while you’re in the store.  Don’t immediately place the item in your cart.  Stick with your list!

7.  Avoid dangerous hobbies (such as shopping)

Enjoy going to the mall just to go to the mall?  This is actually a dangerous hobby if you tend to spend more than you have.  It’s proven the more people are in front of items or in stores, the more they will spend.

8.  Shop with cash versus credit cards

Perhaps you know where you tend to overspend or impulse buy.  Leave your credit card at home when visiting these stores.  Only carry cash and follow rule #1 above.

9.  Recognize store strategy

Stores strategically place items where your eyes go.  The best example is the check out register.  Every item at the check out is a convenience type item.  The store is hoping to sell you the last minute item not on your list before you walk out the door.  Don’t get trapped by the convenience items.

10.  Be careful what you surf

The internet has become its own place to shop.  Many of the best deals are found in the internet today.  Recognize surfing your favorite stores online can be just like walking around in the mall.  The more you’re exposed the higher the changes you’ll make a purchase.

11.  Be careful what you watch on TV

Just like the internet TV is a shopping mall full of advertisements and info commercials.  I recently heard someone say that John Travolta watches info commercials for amusement, but after watching long enough he wants to the buy the product.  I think that’s probably true for most people.  The longer a product is dangled in front of us the more likely we are to want to purchase it.

12.  Send someone else to shop

Do you tend to overspend at the grocery store or when in particular stores?  If so, let someone else do the shopping for you so that you’re not tempted.

13.  Shop with an accountability partner

Tell your friend or spouse you need help with avoiding the temptation to buy while in the store.  Ask them to hold you accountable to not making a random purchase.

14.  Shop backwards

The deeper into the store you go the more likely you are to be enticed by more products.  Try starting in the back of the store and shopping forward.

15.  Don’t go to a store to just hang out

It’s easy to use the mall or stores as a source of entertainment.  Again, the more time spend in stores the more likely you are to buy something, Try to look for other sources of entertainment with less temptation.

16.  Recognize your feelings after the purchase

Most people recognize when they’ve made an unwise purchase decision and feel a sense of anxiety or frustration afterwards.  Consider this feeling when about to make the purchase.  If you go to a thought of what it may be like afterwards (do I really need this?) then it may help in avoiding the spending.

17.  Unsubscribe to mailing lists

Companies love when you sign up to receive their catalog by mail or special offers by email.  These are ways to entice you to spend online or in the store.

18.  Recognize the spending habit by tracking your spending

Probably the best way to determine if you have a problem or not is to review where you’re spending your money every month.  Good tracking of where you spend money and on what will tell you where your spending priorities are.

19.  Buy only to replace items

We often think we need a new TV or other item, but the truth is that the item we have at home works just fine.  Even if the latest gadget is at a rock bottom price, it’s not a good deal if you already have something at home that serves the same purpose.

20.  Establish a want list

Want lists are great to avoid the impulsive purchase.  By having a want list you’ve already established the items that can potentially entice you to spend.  Putting them on the list allows you to think about how important they really are and prioritize them for future purchase.

How do you feel about impulse buying and how do you work to avoid it?

Unless I’m missing something, I think there are two reasons why we visit stores.  We either go into a store with the intent of buying something (because we have a predefined need or a want), or just to browse around for a source of entertainment.

For example, most people don’t go into grocery stores to browse. They go into the store to buy something they need.  Some people like to go into electronic stores to look at the latest gadgets even though they don’t have any intentions of purchasing a gadget.  They are there to browse.

Unplanned purchases, otherwise known as impulse buying

Both situations are quite different and both situations require pre – thought or planning otherwise, the “need” or the “browse” visit could turn into unplanned purchases, otherwise known as impulse buying.  Impulse buying is the result of a product appealing to our emotions.  And when emotions are involved versus logical thinking, you can probably bet you’re gonna spend some money.

Wikipedia has a pretty good description of impulse buying.

Impulse buying disrupts the normal decision making models in consumers’ brains. The logical sequence of the consumers’ actions is replaced with an irrational moment of self gratification. Impulse items appeal to the emotional side of consumers. Some items bought on impulse are not considered functional or necessary in the consumers’ lives.

Stores strategically design product sales and advertisements to tap into our emotions.  Tap into the emotions of the wisest of personal finance gurus and they’ll be quite susceptible to making an unplanned purchase.

Avoid impulse buying

The secret sauce to avoiding an impulse buy is to bring your brain back into the situation and refocus on the decision you’re about to make as well as its impact on your budget.  There are a lot of helpful tips to avoid impulse buying (see other articles below).  However, there are two key tips that I particularly think are helpful in avoiding these types of purchases.  They help make sure logical thinking and planning are a part of the picture.   But ultimately, I think you have to find what works best for you.

1.  Don’t enter into a store without a plan.

If you’re going to buy something, make sure you know what you’re going to buy and stick with it.  If you have a lot of items to buy, such as groceries, make sure you’re taking a list.  Grocery stores are great sources for impulse buying.   Side note:  Is it an impulse to buy when you get to the store, see ketchup on the aisle, realize it’s not on your list and buy it?  I say get the ketchup you need, but avoid want versus need items

At the same time, if you want to go to the electronic store to browse for entertainment, fine. But know that your plan is to browse and even if the latest gadget is on sale at its all time low price, it’s not in your plan to make a purchase.  I could say avoid these stores all together if you don’t have the cash, but real life is that we all find our way in these stores one time or another, so have the plan when you go.

2.  Wait it out.

If you feel the want or need for a purchase, especially a large cost item, give it some time.  Usually, waiting it out 24 hours helps.  Some say wait a week or month, but just find what works for you.  Think logically and know that it’s not worth blowing your budget, or using a credit card without a means to repay.  Sure, this type of discipline requires practice, but you can quickly learn when your emotions have been tapped into if you can begin to recognize the feeling.

Have you ever purchased something and then got it home to find you weren’t excited about it any longer?  Did you look at it and ask yourself why you purchased it?  It happens to all of us.  Recognize the feeling of excitement you had when encountering the item or at the point of purchase and think through the purchase, how you will pay and what portion of your budget will be used.  Bring logic back into the situation.

Final thoughts

Writing this article is great for me too.  Just this past weekend, I found myself making a few unplanned purchases at Target (great place for unplanned purchases).  Although they were not budget busters, these little things add up from time to time and can certainly slow progress of debt reduction, savings or other goals.

The truth is that we’re all enticed by items dangled before us each day.  Having wants is natural, but timing your wants with wise, thoughtful decisions is managing money wisely for everyday life.

What tips work for you when avoiding impulse buying?

By the way, here are a couple of related articles I recently read by other personal finance bloggers that I think also offer some great advice and tips.  I would recommend checking them out too when you have a chance.  You’ll find some of my comments on the posts as well.

• 5 Roadblocks To Help Prevent Impulsive Spending Decisions @ Bible Money Matters
• 5 Ways to Avoid Overspending at the Grocery Store@ MoneyNing
• 10 Simple Ways to Beat Impulse Buying @ The Simple Dollar

Photo by timparkinson.