Questions To Ask While Shopping

In the past few years, my love for shopping has grown. It's become an enjoyable activity to do with friends and let's be honest, it's fun to get new stuff. Shopping is like almost everything else in life: not inherently good or bad, just depends on how you do it. Unfortunately, I often make poor decisions in my use of money and choice of purchases. Again, like in many other areas, I am constantly growing and hoping to get better in this one. I've used various tactics...a couple different times I've decided not to shop for a month. The benefits included not only saving money, but also exercising self-control. During those months, I would avoid some stores that were especially tempting and I discovered how easy it actually was to not buy things when I didn't see them!

Now of course this is not always possible...every store that we go to has tempting advertisements and attractive displays, whether that be the Target Dollar Spot or the candy in the grocery checkout aisle.

So another tactic I sometimes use (and should more often) is to ask myself various questions about a purchase that I'm considering.

Let me share them...

• Would I rather spend this money on something I want more?

• Example: I happen to find a clearance $5 pair of cheap pearl earrings, but I've been wanting a pair of new boots. If I could be $5 closer to getting my boots, I'd rather that. So in a sense, that helps me to resist the earrings and mentally put that $5 toward my boots.

• Do I like the item OR something about the item?

• Recently, I came close to ordering a scarf online from Old Navy. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that what I really liked was the pattern of the scarf, and I didn't know how much I'd actually wear the scarf itself. It could be the pattern, way it fits, the idea, etc...

• Am I just buying it because it's cheap?

• I run across this difficulty most often while shopping at thrift stores... I find a neat item and get excited because of what a good deal it is and then get home and realize I don't even really want it or need it. (I will say, however, that there are times when I don't need or want something, but I will sometimes get it if it's a really good deal in order to give it to someone else who could use it. Bottom line is still to have a purpose for the purchase.)

• Will I feel the need to defend this purchase?

• I think about my husband most often when asking this question. He is kind and giving, but also helps me focus on needs versus wants, so if I feel that I'll have to do a lot of defending and explaining, it's probably not a wise purchase. For others, it may be a sister or mother or close friend who you may find it helpful to imagine how they'd react to your decision.

• Is there something that I'm willing to give up for this?

• Unfortunately, we've slacked a little in this habit, but for a while in our home we decided that if we got something, we gave something. A new pair of shoes means we get rid of a pair of shoes. The biggest benefit is probably just keeping clutter to a minimum, but it also helped me to think about how much I really wanted the new item. If I didn't want to give up my current winter coat, then I didn't really need this new one. 

I hope these are helpful to you, but I also would LOVE to hear any additional questions or ways of thinking that help you make wise decisions in your own personal shopping!

#PurchasewithaPurpose