海角大神

Yesterday, I mentioned the idea of using a 鈥渢ime limit鈥� to keep yourself from spending too much time in a specific store. It鈥檚 a tactic I find useful, particularly when I visit a store that鈥檚 full of temptation for me where very few things are items I actually聽need, like a bookstore.

In other stores, though, I find such a 鈥渢ime limit鈥� to be difficult. If I鈥檓 going to the store to buy groceries, for example, and I have a list with forty items on it, it鈥檚 pretty hard for me to gauge exactly how long it鈥檚 going to take. It takes time to find the items, compare sizes, and pick the right one, after all.

Of course, when you spend a lot of time wandering up and down the aisles, it鈥檚聽incredibly聽easy to find something that鈥檚 not on your list but that you can easily fit into a meal at home. I do this聽all the time.

I鈥檒l be strolling down the aisle looking for eggs and I鈥檒l notice that they have fresh feta in stock, which both Sarah and I love sprinkled on our salads.聽

I鈥檒l be looking for orange juice and I鈥檒l spot apple cider (which is pretty much the taste of fall for me).

I鈥檒l be in the cereal aisle intending to buy some Cheerios from my kids when my eyes will spy some Grape Nuts (my favorite dry breakfast cereal).

You get the idea. There are temptations abound in a grocery store, and聽unlike other stores, it鈥檚 reasonable to convince yourself that you 鈥渘eed鈥� these things.

Different tactics are in order.

For me, the best solution to curb impulse buys in a grocery store is to simply remind myself that 鈥渢he buck stops here鈥� when it comes to my grocery list. I make my shopping decisions before I ever walk in the door, in other words.

I simply pledge to not buy a single item that鈥檚 not on my grocery list.

That doesn鈥檛 mean I don鈥檛 pay attention to temptations. What I鈥檒l often do is take a mental note of anything that seems interesting and talk the purchase over with Sarah the next time we make a grocery list (assuming, of course, that the item is actually important enough for me to remember it).

Doing this forces me to make my grocery list carefully and thoughtfully, but the end result is a much lower total at the checkout aisle.

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.聽