海角大神

Shopping is an extremely expensive form of entertainment.

If you go out shopping simply because you can鈥檛 think of something else to do, you鈥檙e willingly putting yourself in an environment that鈥檚聽designed聽to extract money from your pocket. They use clever displays, sights, sounds, smells, demonstrations, and countless other techniques to get you to buy something. Stores exist to make money and they鈥檙e very effective at it 鈥� if they weren鈥檛, they wouldn鈥檛 remain in business.

Think back and ask yourself how many times you鈥檝e walked into a store without any real purpose in mind and walked out with an item. You went in there without any needs or any real intent to buy, yet you walked out of that store with something you didn鈥檛 need but with a lighter wallet.聽

The first step you can take toward getting your spending under control is to let go of the idea of shopping as entertainment.

Here are a few simple rules to follow if you want to get your unnecessary spending under control.

贵颈谤蝉迟,听never enter a store of any kind without either a shopping list or one specific item in mind to buy.聽If you鈥檙e going into a store without one of those things, don鈥檛 go in. Don鈥檛. If you have to, go out to your car and write a shopping list before you go into the store.

厂别肠辞苍诲,听once you鈥檙e in the store, buy聽nothing聽other than the items on your list.聽(Don鈥檛 add items, either.) Stick to that list, no matter what.

Sure, you might see a great sale on some item you聽must聽have. So what? If it was a need, it would be on your list. Let it go.

Sure, you might discover some item that鈥檚 just聽perfect聽for you or would make a聽perfect聽gift. Again, so what?

If an item seems really compelling to you, take note of it. Go home, research it a little, and then add it to your list for the next time you shop there.

Those two steps keep you from shopping for the pure entertainment of it. Shopping isn鈥檛 entertainment. It鈥檚 a way of either acquiring things you need or losing the money you鈥檝e worked so hard for.

Bored? Want to shop? Focus on finding a hobby instead, one that doesn鈥檛 drain your wallet.

Don鈥檛 鈥渨indow shop,鈥� either, unless you truly have no way to buy the items. Leave your credit cards at home if you intend to window shop and stick with just a small amount of cash in your wallet. Leave your cards in the car if need be.

Abandon shopping as a form of entertainment and find something else. Your financial life will be all the better for it.

This post is part of a yearlong series called 鈥�365 Ways to Live Cheap (Revisited),鈥� in which I鈥檓 revisiting the entries from my book 鈥�365 Ways to Live Cheap,鈥� which is available聽at Amazon聽and at bookstores everywhere.