Impulse Buying

There's a saving exercise where you list the Top 3 things you spend/waste $ on. Last July, my list looked like this:

1. Earrings
2. Bags
3. Eating out

I noticed that 2 out of 3 of my "splurges" were shopping related...more specifically, impulse shopping related. And out of the ashes of old impulse-buying receipts, a Shopping System was born. (Okay, maybe not that dramatic.) Anyhow...

• Window shopping
  I clip magazine pictures of clothes, handbags, jewelry that I want, and they go into...
• The Shopping Journal
  I come back to my Journal in a week or a month, and I ask myself if I still want it. If yes, it wins a place on...
• The Shopping List
  This gets carried around with me on my Palm, and I group everything here as a "need" or "optional." The List has only one rule: I will only buy the item if it is exactly what I want. Down to the color of the stitching on the lining of the inside flap of the inner pocket. (Hey, if I don't completely love the thing when I buy it, I'll probably just waste more money replacing it later, right?)
  
  Whenever something stays on the List for a really long time, I erase it. If I ever want the thing later, it will probably make the list again...and if it doesn't, I probably won't miss it much.

The system is a little bit of tricking yourself - but it's really more about breaking the habit of impulse buying by giving myself time for rational thought beyond the "I want!" moment.

A friend of mine thinks my system is too restrictive. She shakes her head whenever she goes shopping with me because I have a nasty habit of taking everything that catches my eye into the fitting room, trying it, and leaving the store without buying anything at all. But I never feel deprived. On the contrary, I feel empowered that I've saved so much $ this way. So I guess the important thing is that everyone finds a system that works for him- or herself.

(FYI: I'm still working on the eating out bit.)