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Living a Better Life Impulse Buying: Keeping Impulse Purchases
Under Control When asked about saving money during the holidays, one of my first tips is to avoid last minute shopping and impulse buying. This is a budget buster we need to avoid all throughout the year! * * * We've probably all done it. The thought process may go something like this... "Oh look, this is just what I needed!" Or, "What a great sale!!" Then we may even dig the hole deeper with "I know it's not on my list, I probably should wait... but it's here now, I'm here now... maybe it's just meant to be!" People have many ways of justifying impulse purchases... "I've earned it, I need it, I deserve it, he/she would love this gift - though I know it exceeds my budget," or even worse, "I just want it and I want it now - I don't even care what it costs!" (Hopefully that last one doesn't happen too often, and if it does, counseling may be necessary.) Now of course it's not just gifts, clothing and household items that we may buy on impulse, oh no! Anything that can be purchased with money can be bought on impulse. Even big ticket items like cars and houses. My husband and I are currently in the process of looking for a new family van (our aging Ford now has over 160,000 miles and is definitely seeking retirement from our busy family life), but unlike most families, we've been car shopping for over a year! Every time another salesperson throws the pitch at us "What would it take to get you into this van today," I give the same response, "A miracle, because it's not going to happen!" Not only are we taking our time to find the right vehicle for our family and for our budget, but there is no way we'll ever be pressured into a quick "impulse sale" again. Been there, done that. During the early years of our marriage we were simply too soft (i.e. stupid) to say "NO" and just walk away from things we thought we really needed, or wanted. And the fact is, every purchase we make can affect our finances in some way, good or bad. Learning to manage our finances better and live more frugally can be a life-long journey, but it doesn't take long to learn that impulse purchases can turn into disasters. The problem is, many of us may do well when it comes to the bigger purchases like buying a new car or a new home, but what about those smaller everyday purchases - like a few extra sodas or magazines at the grocery store each week? It may not seem like much, but an extra soda and magazine (or whatever you pick up that you could have done without), can cost you an extra $10-$50 a week. That's at least $120 per year, and could be as much as $600 or more. And 10 years of regular impulse buying... could cost you $6,000.00! So, if this is an area where you or someone in your family have a problem, what can you do? Here's a few ideas to help keep those impulses
under control!
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Copyright © 2004 by Michelle Jones, who finally purchased a new van shortly after writing this article. And the winner is... a beautiful 2000 Ford Windstar LX Sport, with 27,000 miles, for 60% off what a new one would have cost! We saved $16,000.00!!!!!!! Related Articles: Top 10 Budget Busters, Free Budget Worksheet Want more money-saving tips? Get a FREE Subscription to our monthly newsletter!
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