{"id":3131,"date":"2010-08-14T11:08:58","date_gmt":"2010-08-14T19:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=3131"},"modified":"2013-08-23T09:18:19","modified_gmt":"2013-08-23T17:18:19","slug":"3-ways-to-curb-your-impulse-shopping-online","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/3-ways-to-curb-your-impulse-shopping-online\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Ways to Curb Your Impulse Shopping Online"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Over the past few years, most of us have got used to shopping online. It doesn\u2019t seem odd to us that some stores \u2013 Amazon most famously \u2013 exist only <\/em>online, with no high street presence. And many of us buy everything from our groceries to our music on the net.<\/p>\n

Online shops are open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, even on holidays. Some purchases \u2013 music, ebooks, movies \u2013 can be bought and downloaded straight to your computer, at any time of the day or night. Is it any surprise that we often end up shopping by impulse?<\/p>\n

You know how it goes. Perhaps you read a book review, click on a link to Amazon, and find yourself with that book in your shopping cart before you even pause to think. It takes mere seconds, and no more effort than a couple of clicks of your mouse, to buy something online. And although the shop is virtual \u2026 your money isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how to break free of impulse shopping online:<\/p>\n

Make it Harder<\/h2>\n

Online shops make it as easy as possible for you to buy, with features like Amazon\u2019s one-click ordering. If you find yourself shopping through Amazon or PayPal or some other site frequently, make the process harder for yourself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

You might, for instance, remove your card details from a particular site. You could change your password \u2013 and turn off the \u201cremember me\u201d feature so that you always have to remember your username and password when you login. You could sign up for a cashback site, and always go through that site before shopping: introducing a few extra clicks and a few moments\u2019 thought could be all you need to break yourself of a bad habit.<\/p>\n

For extreme online-shopaholics, try blocking certain websites on your computer: this prevents you going on Amazon or eBay \u201cjust to browse\u201d.<\/p>\n

Use a Wishlist<\/h2>\n

Instead of buying new books or DVDs as soon as they come out, create a wishlist on Amazon (or whatever site you use \u2013 many have this facility). This gives you a \u201ccooling off\u201d period to decide whether you really<\/em><\/strong> want to make that purchase<\/strong> \u2026 but it\u2019s easy for you to find the product again later.<\/p>\n

Wishlists are also a great tool if you have a birthday or other gift occasion coming up; family and friends may well be grateful for a very easy-to-use list of goodies which you\u2019d really appreciate.<\/p>\n

If you don\u2019t want to use an online store\u2019s wishlist facility, but you\u2019re worried about forgetting or losing the items which you were planning to purchase, you can bookmark them using Delicious<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Write Down Your Purchases<\/h2>\n

Have you ever got to the end of a month and been rather surprised by your bank statement? Perhaps you found you\u2019d done a bit more shopping than you realised, or that a few \u201clittle\u201d purchases added up week after week\u2026<\/p>\n

One of the best ways to tackle this is to keep a spending diary.<\/strong> If online shopping is your only vice, you could just keep a diary for this: perhaps a notebook on your desk or a document on your computer where you jot down the date and time of any purchases \u2013 and where you also note what triggered that particular purchase (whether it was planned, or whether an email or website prompted you to buy).<\/p>\n

Just writing things down like this helps you to assess whether or not you really<\/em> want to buy something . The written record is also helpful if you\u2019re trying to spot patterns: perhaps you tend to buy things when you\u2019re bored in the evenings, or when you\u2019ve had a stressful day at work.<\/p>\n

Do you end up doing a lot of impulse shopping online? Do you have any stories to share, or tips to add?<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past few years, most of us have got used to shopping online. It doesn\u2019t seem odd to us that some stores \u2013 Amazon most famously \u2013 exist only online, with no high street presence. And many of us buy everything from our groceries to our music on the net. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12163,"featured_media":12962,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[22,6],"tags":[405,623,90,621,622,66,358,4629,362,624],"yoast_head":"\n3 Ways to Curb Your Impulse Shopping Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A guide to help control your online spending and shopping habits. 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