Do you know your shopping habits can be disastrous for your lifestyle? If you shop for items and dresses mindlessly, this can burn a hole in your pocket. Because of this behaviour, you will not be able to save money and accomplish certain goals.
Why does that happen, and why do you end up spending more sometimes? The reason is that you did not set a budget to sponsor the shopping. In fact, you did not have a plan to shop for anything, but you went ahead.
When you shop without a plan, in most cases, you are clueless about your financial capacity. You are unaware of the amount available in your bank account. This ignorance can make you shell out all the available balance.
Now, you could be in a vulnerable state if you have swiped your credit cards for such unplanned purchases. The chances are high that you might have exceeded the given limit. After that, the cost will add up exponentially.
For someone who is very much involved in shopping, monitoring various bills and credit card statements seems least important. This is where you make a mistake and invite a major problem in your life in the form of debts. This is a circumstance that you could have prevented if you had adopted intentional shopping behaviour.
There are various benefits of learning this habit, and find out more about it with the help of this blog.
Integrate minimalism by opting to shop with a purpose
A minimalist lifestyle has to do with your buying behaviour. If you spend money on random buys, this cannot take you any closer to minimalism. Moreover, spending without a purpose is not going to be beneficial for your finances.
If you want to have a clutter-free home and wardrobe, your shopping ventures should be well-thought-out in nature. Practise a few steps so that your finances do not face unnecessary chaos. Above all, you do not have to rely on expensive financing options like high acceptance loans from direct lenders.
As these loans come with maximised chances of getting approved, you might have to pay more interest. When clearing up the debt pile becomes so urgent, you might have to resort to costly options like these loans. Protect yourself from getting into such situations by adopting an intentional shopping habit.
· Understand the purpose first
The very term ‘sale’ is used as a hook to grab the attention of impulsive shoppers like you. No matter if you have the right reasons to get a particular item, you will jump into getting it. On being asked about the reason, you will state that ‘sale is going on.’
However, you do not understand that this is where big companies implement their marketing strategies. They do not let you evaluate if there is a purpose to go ahead and buy that one thing. They will create an urgency that this period of low prices will go away soon.
If you do not shop right now, you will miss the best price offer. Seeing this, you will kind of feel like shopping for it immediately. This urgency will not let you look through the purpose carefully.
You will assume that since it is available at a low price, you must get it. Besides, you should consider figuring out the purpose later. This rush makes you spend money on things that oftentimes fail to serve any purpose for you.
· Check your wallet or bank balance
When you hurry up to make a purchase, you miss out on an important thing. It is about checking your wallet or bank account. These two are the places that hold accessible cash.
Make it a point to open the wallet and see how much cash you have. If you really want to work on becoming someone who shops with an intention, this is one of the crucial steps. First, you might forget or might not feel like doing this.
You need to push yourself to build this habit. Every time you feel the urge to buy anything, remind yourself to check the amount of money you currently have. This can be your way of confirming whether you can afford this purchase or not.
This will take time, but once you get habituated, you will never skip this stop. When you come across insufficient money in your bank account or wallet, you will never prefer to go ahead with the purchases.
This is because you saw that not enough funds are there. If you go ahead, you will end up with an unpleasant encounter with debt. This is something people usually like to stay away from.
Since they remain oblivious to how much they can afford, they tend to shop brainlessly. No one else can make them realise until they follow this step and turn it into a habit.
· Understand the role of small purchases
Intentional shopping will help you become a minimalist. You are driven by this thought, but you never feel the importance of decoding the impact of small purchases. This is about spending money knowing the effect this purchase will have on your life.
Now, you prefer analysing how buying a car right now can make your life convenient. If you find that going by public transport will be more convenient, you will at once drop the idea of buying a car. Where is the problem in following this step in the case of small purchases?
Ask yourself if you assess the necessity or impact of that impulse buy before materialising it. If you want to accept a minimalist lifestyle, shopping with an intention is crucial for you. However, it does not indicate that you avoid buying things.
The idea is to filter the purchases based on the intention or the impact it can have. It is about demystifying the value this purchase might add to your life. This will also need you to compare two things you want to buy together.
If they both carry some importance in your life, go ahead. Minimalism is about living with things that are more essential than what you prefer to call luxury. For example, you want to buy an air conditioner since your neighbour has bought one.
This is not the right intention to go ahead with this purchase. You should buy that thing if you think it is necessary for your home. This simple evaluation of the importance that an item can have in your life can help you overcome impulsive shopping behaviour.
The bottom line
If you love shopping and consider it as your hobby, it is most likely that certain things will keep stocking up at your home. Such occurrences are the results of not monitoring what you have and do not have. You have to visit the grocery store to get some kitchen staples.
However, out of a hurry or because of an unplanned visit, you forget the essential items that are almost over. In the name of saving time and effort, you will pick everything that you think you may need. After coming back home, you realise that many of them are already there in sufficient quantity.
Besides, you do not have enough space to store them for longer. Most of the items will decay till the time you may need them. Thus, check if you are getting the same item again.
