Home » Blog » Save Money » The Best (and Most Entertaining!) Way to Stop Impulse Buying

The Best (and Most Entertaining!) Way to Stop Impulse Buying

This post may contain affiliate links, which means I’ll receive a commission if you purchase through my links, at no extra cost to you. Please read full disclosure for more information.

Do you spend too much money on shopping? Do you want to stop impulse shopping? Here’s a fun, crazy(!) and most entertaining way to do that!

Would you just love to always buy t-shirts, candles, cute little boxes, wrapping paper, notebooks, magazines and candy when you’re suppose to only buy laundry detergent?

OR

Would you like to stop impulse buying, but don’t know how?

OR

You just clicked to this post because of the title and don’t have a clue why you are still reading?

Which ever is your answer you will love this article, because the technique to stop impulse buying that I’m going to share with you is just INSANE…ly good. 

The most entertaining way to stop impulse shopping | Intentional Spending | Balanced shopping habits | Mindful Shopping | Money management | Personal Finance | For beginners | Money saving tips | Track your spending | Spend money wisely | Spend less | Wealth | Simple tips & hacks | SaturdayGift | Saturday gift #SaturdayGift

The best way to stop impulse buying

When was the last time you went to a store with an intention to buy one or two things and left the store with way more that that? 

How often does it happen? Every time? Sometimes? Never? And are you being honest to yourself when answering?

Do you ever wonder back at home, what got into you? 

For some reason the sales are just too good to pass, or you get an urge to buy something you all of the sudden think you need

And at home you might feel the shopper’s guilt and/or the buyer’s remorse. And you might even toss the shopping bags in a corner of a room without remembering what you’ve just bought and leave the purchases there with the tags still on and go back to your life, do your chores and tasks at hand. 

And you promise to yourself, next time will be different.

Does any of this sound familiar to you? 

For me the answer is yes. I know what I’m talking about – that was me a few years ago.

But I’ve got good news for you. 

Since then I’ve put together everything I learnt working as a professional buyer (spending and saving millions (!)of the companies’ money) and developing lean processes with my passion towards self-development. And I’ve created and tested techniques to discover balanced shopping habits without feeling restricted. 

And by far, this is my one of my favorite techniques to stop impulse buying.

When it comes to stop impulse buying – fight crazy with crazy

One of my favorite (and most entertaining!) ways to have balanced shopping habits is to talk to the things in the store

Yes, you read it right. To talk TO the things in the store. NOT ABOUT the things. TO the things.

And yep! It’s crazy, but so are the advertisements, jingles and sales that try to manipulate us to buy-buy-buy.

Crazy advertisement

The advertisements, sales, showcases and jingles are made to make you buy things. They go to your head without you even knowing it. They find their way to your subconscious mind. They discover your sweet-shopping-spot and make you need things, want things, like things and grave for things. 

And before you know it, you’ve bought stuff. A lot of stuff. Crazy, huh?

And your conscious mind is the one that has to pay the price later – the remorse, the guilt, the wasted money and time. You beat yourself up for bringing things home and spending your hard-earned money on things you have to justify yourself later.

So to prevent that happening over and over again, I started to talk to the things in the store.

Crazy solution

Why did I start to talk to the things in the store? 

Because the manipulation of the sales and advertisements happens in the subconscious mind i was interested to see what happens if I try to lift the manipulation from the subconscious to my conscious mind by talking. 

And instead of just mindlessly saying, yes I do need this and I do want that, and I should buy those things that are on sale, I started to have a conversation with the things. (And if you are wondering how crazy I am the answer is, “no, they don’t talk back at me.”)

Let me also tell you that this is not just my favorite technique but also now one of my favorite ways to shop.

So yes, I know it’s insane and wacko, but bear with me. I think the only way to fight crazy (crazy advertisement, crazy sales, crazy jingles) is with crazy. So fight crazy with crazy. 

And here’s how to do that.

This post is part of an article series 25 out-of-the-box tips to change your mindset about spending your hard-earned money.

How can you stop impulse buying by talking to the things?

I use three ways to talk the the things (and to stop impulse buying) in the stores or online.

The three ways are:

Please note:

Keep the talking inside your head. Say things silently. No-one needs to know! I’m being serious here. No-one needs to know. 

Also let’s remember that people are different and likes and dislikes for all of us vary. We don’t want to make others feel bad with this techique. If something is not a right fit for you, it might be a perfect match for someone else. 

Disclaimer

I would like to make a note at this point that I am not responsible if you don’t keep the talking inside your head and someone thinks you are insane OR you are thrown out of a store, because you are insulting their products. 

Ok? Let’s move on!

Being nice to the things

Being nice to the things lets you admire them, but leave them where they are. You can like those nice looking beautiful things, but you don’t need to own them. 

This is a great way to 

  • stay on budget
  • keep your home clutter-free
  • and choose quality (or something you really like) over quantity. 

So what can you say to the things if you want to be nice about it?

When you want to choose perfect over “just ok”

If you want to choose perfect over just ok and be nice about it, you can say something like:

“Oh, aren’t you pretty. But I will not buy you, because I’m looking for the perfect one. I know you are on sale and you look nice, but unfortunately you are not the right one for me.”

When something is too expensive for your budget

If something’s too expensive and doesn’t fit your budget, you can say:

“You are gorgeous! Just stunning! And I would love to have you! But I’m not going to let you destroy my budget. Even though you would look amazing in my closet and on me, it’s not worth the credit card bills and the bad feelings and all the hard work I would have to do to pay those bills. I know you would love to come with me, but I can’t take you. And me rejecting you doesn’t mean that you are not beautiful, because you are. But I have to say no.”

When you don’t have room for it or it’s wrong style for you

If there’s no room for the thing in your home or it’s not your style you can say something like:

“Well, aren’t you done well. What an amazing quality and gorgeous colors. I’m sorry that you are not my style. And I don’t have room for you in my home. No, no, I can’t change my style for you, even though you are stunning. I have to leave you here. I bet you’ll find a perfect life in someone elses home. And you’ll compliment their style. In my home, you would be neglected, because I know you would never be my favorite. Ok, I have to go now, it was nice meeting you. Good luck.”

You see how easy it is to pass a good sale or a beautiful product. And if being nice all of the time is not your thing, let’s try being rude. It’s so much fun!

Be rude to the things

Being rude to the things is the best way to fight the sales – the bogo deals, the up-to-70%-off sales, the 3 for 2 offers. This is also good way to not to buy badly made or low quality products. 

If an advertisement is very manipulative and tries to enter your subconscious mind without your concent, I would call that rude (among other things)! So I justify my rudeness towards the items with that. You’re being rude, so I get to be rude. 

And again remember to talk silently – keep you words inside your head.

So what can you say if you want to be rude to the things?

If you want to be firm and less rude (but still rude)

So if you want to be more firm and a bit rude, you can say something like:

“Ok! I can see the value here – 3 for 2 is a good deal. BUT! Then I would have to store you AND your friend “the bogo deal” in my closets. And soon my home is going to be a warehouse of great deals and super sales. Yep! Wouldn’t you like that. But I wouldn’t. So no! No thanks.”

OR

“Haha! I’m not going to buy you. I know your quality, you break immediately. It doesn’t matter you are 70% off, I’m more valuable than a badly made product that no-one wanted. 

Ok, that was actually very rude. But being honest sometimes is.  

If you want to be very rude

If you want to be very VERY rude, you can say something like:

“Yes, yes, yes. I know. You cost only a fraction from your original price, but look at you! There’s a reason you are on sale! There’s something wrong with you. I’m sorry that I have to be the one to break the news to you, but there really must be something wrong with you. You are just ugly. I don’t know what the person designing you was thinking. Well now I feel a bit bad, for being so rude. I hope someone will take you home. You know – you still have hope – they say someones trash is another one’s treasure. I wish you good luck. It’s not going to be easy for you. Bye!”

So how does being rude feel like to you? And want to know the fast shopping -method? Read on!

Fast shopping

And if you want to do fast shopping, you can say something like:

“Not you. Not you. Definitely not you. Not even close. Aren’t you ugly. No. No. No.” And say it until you say: “yes!”.

Yes. The fast shopping method is very fast. 

And hey! If you notice that you don’t say no, but you say yes to everything, read more about the other tips to discover balanced shopping habits and to stop impulse buying from the article 25 tips to discover balanced shopping habits without feeling restricted. 

And of course, you can always combine the different talk-to-the-things techniques.

Combine the “talk to the things” techniques

When I shop, I like to combine these techniques.

The way I go shopping, is that I do first fast shopping to get myself going. So I say no to a lot of products. That way before any advertisement or sale gets into my head, I get in touch with my style, my likes and dislikes and my quality standards AND I have the power, not the advertisements or sales. 

When I see something I like, I touch the product. If it’s well made and pretty and I really start wanting it, but I know I shouldn’t buy it, I’m going to be nice to it. I admire it. I give some compliments and I talk to it like a friend. And then I say goodbye. 

If something is a good sale, but not so good quality then I ‘ll be rude. Very rude. I need to protect my home, closets and credit card from low-quality things that won’t serve me well.    

And between the being nice and being rude I do fast shopping. I say no – a lot of times – until I say yes. And then I go back to being nice or rude depending on the item. And if I find a perfect match (and I mean match-made-in-heaven-kind-of-match), I’ll bring it back home with me. 

And we’ll live happily ever after until death (or a broken seam) do us part. 

Conclusion

What do you think? You got this far, so you must be intrigued to try this! This might need a bit digesting, but I promise you, if you do it right, you’re shopping will never be the same again! 

And come back to share your experience in the comments! I would love to know how this works for you. 

P.S. You can try this first at home to your own things and declutter a few and fall back in love with some others. 


Want to remember this? Pin this to your favorite Pinterest board!

The most entertaining way to stop impulse shopping | Intentional Spending | Balanced shopping habits | Mindful Shopping | Money management | Personal Finance | For beginners | Money saving tips | Track your spending | Spend money wisely | Spend less | Wealth | Simple tips & hacks | SaturdayGift | Saturday gift #SaturdayGift

Pin for Later or Share on Facebook!

7 Comments

  1. I need to try this the next time I’m shopping. It made me laugh at first, but it makes sense. So smart!

    1. Thank you so much for your comment, Erin. Yay! I’m so happy to hear that the post made you laugh. I was hoping to achieve that kind of result because we tend to remember things that made us laugh. So if you laughed it could be likely that you’ll remember the “talk to the things in the store” advice. Love it!

  2. I loved this! Haha. So different. Honestly I clicked on the article because I was intrigued. I’m not s big purchased of material thingd, but msn, I hsve hungry eyed when I go grocery shopping. Maybe yiur strategy will help.

    https://whatasweetjourney.com

    1. Yay! Thank you so much for your comment, Rosalinda. I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this article! Definitely, you should try the technique when grocery shopping. That’s actually so clever idea. I think this might be perfect when buying treats: “aren’t you delicious. I know you’ll taste yummy, but this time I won’t choose you to come home with me”. What do you think? Hahaha!

  3. A very different and interesting approach! I will try it next time I really need to stay focused and within a certain budget!! I will have to remember to keep the voices inside my head, lol!!

    1. Thank you so much for your comment, Kathleen. I would love to hear if you’ve tried this technique. And if you did, I hope you remembered to keep the voices inside your head, hahaha! I have other fun and kind of out-of-the-box ideas and methods that I’ve created over the years so I hope you’ll come back to read more about them!

  4. Pingback: Fire Your Inner Crazy Buyer and Change Your Shopping Mindset For Good

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

I accept the Privacy Policy