With the country still swimming in economic crisis and the prices of goods still on the rise the only prudent thing to do is to keep a tight leash on your wallet. Sure, we all love to shop (honestly, I have to meet someone who doesn’t enjoy purchasing things) and impulse buying at a time like this can ruin your budget.

Here’s a few reasons why:

• Impulse buying leads you to buy stuff you don’t really need
  If you’ve found something you really like but don’t have a pressing need for it then do yourself a favor and restrain yourself from whipping out your cash. Now if it’s a rare item that you’ve been looking for, do the purchase but otherwise don’t. You’ll save yourself quite a sum once you get the hang of it.
• Impulse buying leads to second or even third purchases of the same item
  Sounds confusing? Not really? Let’s say you’re looking to buy a gadget but haven’t planned for it and you suddenly see said item up for sale at a price you can readily afford. Chances are, you’d buy the item without looking at the alternatives or doing the least bit of primary research. After sometime, you’ll realize that the item you’ve just bought doesn’t fit your criteria well and you end up choosing to live with it (unlikely) or get a new one.
• Impulse buying doesn’t get you the best price
  Fairly self-explainatory but to give an example as above, the moment you see what you’re looking for at the first store you check, you end up buying it without checking the competitor’s price. Now that’s fine if you’re really keen on being a customer solid to a single shop but most of us don’t have that luxury.
• Impulse buying robs you of your purchasing power
  In a sense yes. It’s not because you are able to buy what you can, impulse buying doesn’t assure you that you are buying what you need or even what you want.

How can I prevent impulse buying?

• Use a Wish List
  List down all the items that you want in order according to how much you want each item. Many people won’t be able to purchase ALL items in their wishlist but having servces as a guide to help you allocate funds into what you really want or what you can afford at any one time. Sure some (or in most cases MOST) items maybe out of your monetary range but who knows right?To those interested here’s my current list:
  • Ipod Touch (ASAAAA! If I win one at Ozinefest though… =3)
  • Asus EEE 700 (or 900 when its available)
  • A midrange PC
  • A replacement for my 500 GB Network fileserver
  • A Nikon DSLR camera (MAS ASAAA!)
  • HP TX2013 Tablet PC (I love tablet PC for some reason)
• Do your research
  Is that gadget the best one around? Do you really want it? Are there any viable alternatives? Where’s the lowest you can buy it? Where’s the best place to buy it (in terms of warranty for gadgets and electronics)? You don’t have to answer everyone of these questions but just keep a few of them in mind when looking for an item. Remember, knowing is half the battle.
• To Sale or Not Sale?
  I’m not a big fan of SALES (like SM’s 3-day sales or Robinson’s Midnight Madness ones) for a lot of things like the sheer number of people, the lack of really “good” items and the pressure of getting what you want before it gets sold out. The price cut sure is attractive but sometimes it’s not just worth the headache. The best course to go about here is to check out beforehand when it’s best to buy things.For electronics as our example, there’s a likely chance that a SALE is in your favor but some shops leave out some of the Value Added Freebies that go along during regualar days.
• Ask around
  Most of the time, the best opinion is not always yours so asking people for their help (considering they are knowledgable in the item you’re interested in) is the wisest course of action. Of course if you’re too shy to bother some random shopper, you can always ask the sales person for his opinion. Just make sure he’s not the type who’s eager to sell what he can.