Years ago, I decided to forbid any and all Impulse purchases.
Of course, I “fall off the wagon” once in a while and buy stupid and impracticable stuff that I don’t need, but we’ll chalk that off to being a human in a 1st world country.
The Marketers sometimes win over my will to be “responsible” resulting in spontaneous splurges/binges.
When I’m strong and responsible while shopping on Amazon.com, I will add “wants” to the “cart” and have a personal policy to leave everything I put in the cart a minimum of 24 hours before completing the purchase.
This policy has saved me many thousands of dollars . . . Literally 80% of the stuff I put in the cart never gets bought.
Here’s an example . . . I’m in the market to buy a Pressure Washer for Owen Hollow. I found an awesome one on Amazon for $429 . . . This thing is a MONSTER! Truth is, I could be the “Mack Daddy” of pressure washer owners, if I were to buy this.
I put it in the cart on Friday.
Saturday, I went to COSTCO to price some tires for my “new” collector car (1989 560 SEL Mercedes that was an impulse purchase :-()
While there, I also bought some much needed pants and a few food items and right there next to the crab legs was a large pile of boxes of Pressure washers . . . $279 . . . with all the same specs as the one I had in my Amazon cart. After considering my real need (Occasional light duty use), it was a no-brainer. Well, I didn’t buy it Saturday . . . Decided to chew on it for a few days . . . Did some yard work yesterday and found myself sufficiently disgusted with the filthy siding on the house – and the deck – and the barn, that I decided to pick it up today.
There now . . . I’m saving $150 and getting what I need.
When we are buying things, we are really buying the results of what these things do.
You’re not buying a drill . . . You’re buying the efficiency and quality of the holes that drill makes.
Seth Godin’s Blog post on Saturday was very timely (Copied below).
He mentions this same concept in a different context.
Seth offers this failsafe tip:
Failsafe tip
The last thing to add to an important email is the email address.
Write the thing, save it as a draft, and, an hour later, put the email address in and then hit send.
It’s not clear that you should send an important text, but if you’re going to, write it in a notes app, then copy, paste and send.
Send it when you’re ready, not before.
There’s no ‘recall’ button.
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Make this your best new habit, and I promise you a better quality of life.
Hope you have a fabulously uncluttered week.
b