Fashion

The secrets to avoiding an impulse buy

1st February, 2021
Avoiding making an impulse buy requires adopting a few key strategies

Shopping is fun but it can also become a costly exercise if you find yourself constantly impulse buying. Simply splurging on something because it popped up in an email or you saw it on someone on Instagram or even because the lure of sale stickers on a window was just too much can often lead to making ill-advised purchases. I’ve found that impulse buys are more often than not the kind of things that will end up gathering dust in the back of my closet because I haven’t really thought them through.

The thing is we’re all human and I know that sometimes we can see something and just become fixated on the fact that we absolutely, positively can’t live without it. I’ve been there many times, I get it. However it’s also what can lead to overspending and ending up with a wardrobe full of things that just don’t get worn. So, in the interests of helping you all avoid another impulse purchase you’ll regret, these are some of the strategies I use. Here’s how to avoid making an impulse buy easily and effectively.

Have a shopping list

I always, always have a shopping list on the go as it helps keep me focused on what I genuinely want/need as opposed to being distracted by shiny new things. By doing this I know what I will actually genuinely wear and helps to remove the temptation (somewhat – willpower is still needed!) to just buy something because it caught my eye.

Sleep on it

Whenever I’m making a big purchase decision I always make a point of sleeping on it. I think it’s so easy to get caught up in the moment whether it’s online shopping or simply seeing something in store that I need to give myself the appropriate space to think it over. Often I’ll find that if I genuinely love something I’ll still be thinking about it the next day, whereas if it was just a fleeting thing I would’ve already moved onto something else.

As yourself if you really genuinely need something before buying it
Photo by Laura Chouette on Unsplash
Ask yourself key impulse buy questions

I think it’s always a good idea to have a set of questions to ask yourself to make sure you’re making a good buy. For me this will be things like:

“Will I wear this more than once?”

In my opinion wardrobe space is precious and there’s no room for one hit wonders (the only exception to this is my wedding dress!). I always like to make sure something is going to be worn numerous times.

“Would I pick this up if it were sitting in my closet right now?”

This helps me identify whether I really would wear something. If I wouldn’t think I’d gravitate towards it in a hypothetical situation, why would it be the case in real life.

“Does this go with at least 10 other things in my wardrobe?”

Versatility is so important to me. I like to make sure that anything in my closet can be mixed and matched easily.

“Do I already own something like this?”

We all have styles that we really love and as a result we can inadvertantly end up with multiples of the same thing. To avoid this I always make sure that if I’m buying something it doesn’t already have a doppelgänger in my closet.

Set yourself a shopping budget

What’s the most important things if you want to learn how to avoid an impulse buy? Set yourself a shopping budget. If I have a firm idea of what I can spend it generally helps to curb impulse buys as I know I’ve got a pool of funds to work with and I’ve got to use it to purchase other things on my list.

What strategies do you use to avoid impulse buying?

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