No matter how little we earn, if we are unable to save, it is our own fault. No use blaming others for it.
Don’t be in a hurry to buy anything. Impulsive buys are never worth the money you spend on them. If only we could delay our decision to buy things for some; if only we could fight the urge to buy something instantaneously, we may not buy so many things that we buy from time to time. We may develop cold feet and back out of that decision because many of our buys are ad-driven or driven by clever marketing gimmicks.
When it comes to buying, there’s something called the 7-day rule. Most of us are impulsive buyers. That’s what most advertisements, salespersons, and sales gimmicks take advantage of and gun for. They know that they have to hook you within the first few seconds and then pressurise you to make a decision and book your order immediately. Once you place your order and take delivery of the item, there’s nothing you can do about it.
Always make sure that your purchases are need-based. Don’t be conned by sales gimmicks. If you have a lot of things lying around which you do not use, the odds are that you purchased those items impulsively either as a result of some sales gimmicks or simply because you had a credit card in your wallet.
If you are someone who has a collection of credit cards stacked up in your wallet, it is time to consider surrendering some of them. The more the number of credit cards you use, the more the chances of splurging. If you are a bigtime spender who goes berserk on spending sprees, and find it difficult to pay the credit card bills on time—if you are just depositing the minimum payment due on the credit cards—you need to discard some of those cards.
Another way of minimising unwanted purchases is to make it a point to make only cash purchases. That way you would never be able to overspend because once your wallet is empty, you would be forced to postpone your purchases. As a result, you may not purchase many of the items that you purchase just because you have a credit card in your pocket. If you find carrying cash cumbersome and risky, you may replace your credit card with a debit card. That way your bank balance will work as a limiting factor for your expenses and prevent overspending.
The acid test of the 7-day rule is: just postpone your purchase by a week after deciding to purchase something. If you still feel the need for that item, go ahead and purchase it. But the odds are that you may not feel the need for the item in question anymore. If that is the case, you never needed that item in the first place. You can do without it. It was just an impulsive decision.
All you need to do is to put a cap on your impulses and think logically to avoid overspending on things you do not need.
