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Practical tips to help you spend less and save more. 

Sale! BOGO! Add to cart. Buy now. Shoppers everywhere are familiar with these enticements to spend money. Whether it’s the latest beauty product or newest technology upgrade, buying goods has never been easier. Online and in-store, it takes a very disciplined shopper to avoid impulse buying. If you feel like you need to hit the brakes on your spending, try some of these tips.

Distinguish between needs and wants
To make better spending decisions, get a clear idea on the difference between a need and a want. Housing, transportation and food—these are clearly needs. However, a bigger house, a luxury vehicle and eating out when it’s not necessary are wants. Before purchasing anything, ask yourself, “Is this a need or a want?”

Put wants on pause
One way to slow impulse spending is by putting a self-imposed pause on all purchases. Some people wait 30 days before making a purchase decision. In the weeks the decision is on pause, they may decide they don’t really want the item or that they’d prefer to spend the money on something else. If 30 days seems too long for you, experiment with putting off purchases for a week.

Stay away from stores-­—online and in-person
By avoiding stores, you create a healthy distance between you and tempting purchases. This applies to in-person and online shopping.

If you tend to impulse buy online, unsubscribe to retailer mailing lists. If that’s not possible, automate your email so those offers go to a separate mailbox that won’t grab your attention every time you open your email.

Turn your attention elsewhere
If shopping is a big part of your life, staying away from stores may mean you’ll have time on your hands. Have a plan in place to do something other than shop so you don’t get lured in by the buying habit. It’s especially good if you can find something else to do that doesn’t cost any money, such as taking a walk or spending time outdoors.

Remove your credit cards from autofill
Shopping on smartphones and computers is too easy! Just tap or click and the technology will autofill your credit and billing information unless you put a speed bump in the way. You can slow the speed of online purchasing by deleting your credit card info from the autofill function. This way, in the time it takes to type in your credit card number and expiration date, you slow down the transaction and can ask yourself if this is something you need or want? Is it a purchase that could wait?

Is the item really worth it?
When you’re about to buy an item, reframe the way you look at its cost. Instead of basing your decision on the price of the item, ask yourself “How long do I have to work to pay for this?”

When you calculate the cost of an item in hours, days, months or even years, you might find it doesn’t seem like such a good deal anymore. 

Don’t be too hard on yourself if you slip
It’s not easy changing a habit like impulse buying. Experiment with the techniques above to see what works best for you. If you don’t have 100% success at stopping impulse purchases that doesn’t mean failure. Every purchase you delay or decline is success.

Celebrate any gains you make in getting impulse buying under control. One way to reward yourself is by putting the money you could have spent in a savings account. Set a savings goal and when you reach it, do something you really want—something that’s worth the time it took to earn and save that money.

Consumers provides banking services for more than 117,000 members. If you have banking questions, call us at 800-991-2221. We make it easy to bank how you want, when you want.

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Tools and resources

As part of the Consumers family, you have free, unlimited access to financial management services.

Learn more