The Convenience of Online Shopping and It’s Budgetary Impact
There is nothing better than sitting in your pajamas, sipping on a cup of tea while shopping for your latest must have. You don’t have to worry about driving there, looking for parking, dealing with sales associates, long lines or the disappointment of finding that big win only to realize it’s not in your size. Online it’s as easy as click, click, buy. The convenience of online shopping combined with the slew of discount opportunities makes it a powerful draw. Sometimes too powerful of a draw. All of the conveniences listed above are triggers for those with compulsive or impulsive buying habits. Online retailers make it even harder to resist with events such as Amazon Prime Day and other enticing reduced-price sales. How many times when you’re bored have you found yourself randomly browsing shopping sites? Looking at something and thinking what a great deal that is and adding to your cart? But you’re just adding it to your cart, right? Not buying it. Then you find that next item that you’ve always thought about getting but you really don’t need it. Wait, it’s on sale! Well, since you already found Item 1 at such a great price, you might as well buy Item 2, that way you’ll get free shipping. What a deal! Somehow, without even thinking about it you’ve spent $200 of hard-earned money on items you didn’t even plan for and most likely didn’t budget for. But you saved so much money compared to if you bought it in the stores! The question you must now ask yourself – would you have driven to a store to buy it? If the answer is no, you probably didn’t need it. That was a want, pure and simple. Remember, buying something you don’t need isn’t saving money. Next time you’re thinking about browsing online retailers, ask yourself the following questions:
- Why Am I here? Think carefully about the answer as you may realize something that didn’t occur to you before. Are you filling a gap in your life
- How do I Feel? If you are feeling the adrenaline rush of “the big win”, you may want to examine that a little deeper. That’s the first indicator of a problem.
- Do I Need This? Need vs. want. The age-old question that seems to always swing towards need as we can’t define our wants anymore.
- What If I Wait? Will you survive if you don’t get that new pair of shoes?
- How Will I Pay for It? With all the credit options available, most people couldn’t even tell you their bank balance. Do you know yours?
- Where Will I Put It? That wall hanging is very nice, I agree. Do you have a wall to hang it on?
It’s all about balance in life. From work to diet to spending, you just need to have a plan and a goal. Set yourself some limits and spend accordingly. If you need help defining your budget, we’d love to help]]>