15 Ways to Quit Mindless Shopping
There’s no quicker way to derail a budget than mindless shopping. Yet, many people have this issue.
Mindless shopping is when you buy products without considering whether you really need them. For some, it’s a bad habit. For others, it’s a compulsion. For everyone, it’s a waste of money and it can do some serious damage to your finances if you don’t rein it in.
But how do you take steps to curb mindless spending? Through personal experience and the advice of experts, we’ve curated a list of tips to help you stop this shopping in its tracks.
1. Commit to Not Shopping
The first thing you have to do when you’re making the decision to stop mindless shopping is to commit to not shopping. That doesn’t mean cut out trips to grocery stores. There are still things you need, but there’s a big difference between wants and needs.
Make a commitment and challenge yourself to not shop. You can start small and set your goal for a month. Gradually, over time you’ll break the habit. It’s a slow, but steady race.
2. Remove Temptation
Temptation is everywhere. You may drive by the mall, you may get fliers in the mail, or your friend may invite you to go shopping.
The important thing is after realizing you have an issue, to remove yourself from all of these temptations. It’s definitely easier said than done, but it’s not impossible. Until you at least get to a place where you’re not itching to swipe your card, it’s best to stick to shopping when you absolutely need to and no more.
3. Do Some Introspection
In order to stop mindless shopping, you have to identify the root causes of what makes you engage in the habit to begin with. Sometimes, we shop because when we were younger we didn’t have the things we needed, so we’re making up for that as adults.
Knowing what is causing you to spend money can help mitigate the damage. You’ll begin to identify patterns and can implement safeguards to help stop them.
4. Declutter
If you want to see how much stuff you truly have, make a plan to declutter your home. Not only will you likely find things you didn’t know you even had, you’ll start to see how mindless shopping is affecting your home.
As an added bonus, you’ll have more room in your home, too. Just don’t fill it up with more stuff you don’t need.
5. Identify Your Triggers
Are you an emotional shopper? Can you just not pass up what you perceive as a deal? Knowing what triggers you to want to shop, even if you don’t need anything, is the actual key to stopping.
Once you know your triggers, you can engage in deterrence. For example, if you’re feeling overly emotional and need something to do to keep your mind busy, perhaps you can commit to reading, writing, or even cleaning instead.
6. Track Your Spending
Ever wonder just how much you’re spending when you go on these shopping trips? Track it all. Write it down, or use an app on your phone to record your spending habits.
Chances are you’re going to see a negative pattern and that might just be enough to make you realize you need to cut back.
7. Don’t Shop While Emotional
Even if being emotional isn’t one of your triggers, you should definitely avoid shopping while you’re all up in your feels. Sometimes, buying stuff releases endorphins, which makes us temporarily happy, but it doesn’t address the root cause of those emotions. In fact, you’ll likely have a drop later after it sinks in.
Avoid going to a store or even shopping online during these periods. Your wallet will thank you.
8. Unsubscribe From Texts and Emails
It’s so easy to sign up for texts and emails from your favorite shops in hopes of scoring extra savings. You know what else is easy? Unsubscribing.
If you’re regularly receiving email and text messages with discount codes and advertisements for sales, it’s time to say “no.” Unsubscribing is easy enough and you won’t be faced with the temptation of saving 25% on items you simply don’t need.
9. Avoid Online Shopping
This is a tough one, but it’s so easy to blow money shopping online. Especially when you have Affirm and Klarna offering you the chance to split your total into monthly payments.
It’s better to just say no and save your shopping for in-person. If you do shop online, make it something you need, like a pick-up order for groceries.
10. Window Shop, But Don’t Purchase
If you love the idea of shopping and really don’t want to give it up, then do the next best thing: window shopping. It costs you nothing to simply browse. The trick is not to purchase anything.
You can window shop online, too. If it makes you feel better, add the stuff to a cart, but don’t click buy.
11. Avoid Sale Sections in Stores
We’ve all seen them. They’re like red beacons screaming “look at me, buy me!” and they’re everywhere. Most of the time, they are filled with things the store is trying to get rid of, and nearly all of the time, they’re not products you need.
Avoiding the sales and clearance sections in stores will help you avoid spending money on things just to shop.
12. Remove Your Saved Credit Card Info
If you shop online regularly, you’ve probably done what many do—stored your credit card information for a quicker purchase next time. Not only is this wildly unsafe (seriously, it’s a great way to put your information at risk), it makes it far too easy to shop mindlessly.
Delete your credit card information from Google, or whatever app you use, and don’t store it in the future. The idea is if you have to get up to get your payment information, it gives you more time to change your mind and you’ll avoid the impulse buy.
13. Take a Detour
Got shopping on the brain? Occupy your brain with something else. A lot of the time when we impulsively buy—or even eat—something it’s because we’re bored.
So, go take a detour. Take a walk, go do some chores, or read a book. Just keep your mind busy until the desire to shop passes. And it will.
14. Shut Off Amazon’s 1-Click Buy
Nothing makes it easier to buy a ton of things you don’t need than Amazon’s 1-click buy feature. Instead of adding things to a cart, you can simply click one button and the item is on its way to you.
I have clicked these by accident, and while it’s easy to cancel the order, it’s also easy to just deactivate the feature. Seriously, your wallet will thank you.
15. Get Professional Help
This might sound a little harsh, but if you have a serious compulsion to shop and none of the above tips help, you might need some external help.
A counselor or therapist can help you get to the bottom of why you feel the need to shop whenever you can. They can help you with coping techniques and offer more long-term solutions.
