Online shopping is the best kind of window shopping you can do! You can sit around in your pajamas, regardless of the time of day, and shop for anything you can imagine. Unfortunately, this means it’s way too easy to let yourself spin out of control. Time flies when you’re surfing the Internet, and you might not even realize how long you’ve been shopping or how much you’ve spent. Check out these tips on how you can stop online impulse spending.
1. Pay from a single account.
Having multiple accounts makes it harder to keep up with your finances. Whether you use a bank account, credit card or Paypal account for online purchases, make sure you use just one of those. That way you can always know how much you have in the account and how much you’ve spent.
2. Don’t save your credit card information.
One-click checkout is the easiest thing to do when you’re shopping online — it’s literally just one click to enter all your payment information and shipping address! But it’s this ease that makes it more likely you’ll spend more online, because you don’t even feel like you’re shopping. There’s no exchange of money for purchases — it’s all visual, through a computer screen until a box arrives at your door a week later.
3. Unsubscribe from promotional emails.
Sometimes you don’t even think about shopping until you get that email promoting the latest big sale your favorite store is having. Then it just seems stupid to miss out on major savings, right? Wrong! Unsubscribe from promotional emails from any store so you’re not tempted to buy when you don’t need to. You shouldn’t shop just to shop, you should only shop when you need a particular item. Not getting tempting offers in your inbox will help change your approach to shopping – and help you save time checking emails!
4. Don’t give out your email address when you shop.
Most stores ask for your email now when you check out. They do this just like they used to ask for your phone number — because they want to contact you in the future and try to get you into their store! Instead of giving out this information, just tell them you prefer not to give out your email or phone number. They won’t badger you about it, they’ll just say ok and leave that blank. This will cut down on those promotional emails mentioned above.
5. Limit your time shopping online.
It’s so easy to waste time online just clicking through links, seeing what you wish you could buy if you had the money, checking out what the store recommends for you, seeing what people bought who liked the same item as you. Before you know it, hours have slipped away! It’s ok to shop online because, most of the time, it’s way more efficient than going to stores in your city. But make sure to limit time when you shop (or window shop!) online. Set a physical timer if you need it, but try to keep track of it yourself. Promise to just look for one item, or on one site. It’s way too easy to impulse buy when you’re just surfing the internet aimlessly. When your eyes get tired and you can’t scroll through pages anymore, you’ve probably had enough!
6. Research every purchase.
Instead of simply clicking to put an item in your cart, do research first. Even if it’s not a major purchase, checking a few websites can help you make the best decision. Read reviews from people who have bought and used the product. Make sure it will last for a long time and does exactly what it says it will do. Make sure you don’t need to buy additional accessories. Check a few other websites and see if you can find it even cheaper, or with free or faster shipping. Sometimes you’ll find that you don’t really need this exact product, or that you’d rather wait to find it cheaper at another outlet.
7. Keep a wish list.
You don’t have to buy everything right now! A lot of websites allow you to keep a wish list, or add things to your cart and save them to purchase later. Or you can keep a list in a text document, complete with links. This ensures that you’ll remember cool things you’ve seen for yourself or others, but you can wait and make sure you still want or need them at a later date, instead of buy them right at that moment when you might not have the finances.
Featured photo credit: Jorge Franganillo via flickr.com
