Book of Good Advice Book_of_good_advice | Page 49

TOP SHOPPING TIPS S S S P S A HOP WITH A LIST This is my number one tip for good reason. Many people over- spend or buy things they don’t want, don’t need and never end up using because they haven’t pre- pared properly. ET A BUDGET Yes, oh yes – the “b” word. Budget. This is important. Many people overspend on things they don’t want, need or use because they had no parameters around their spending – they just went ‘hell for leather’. Not a smart way to shop. ET A TIMEFRAME Don’t allow yourself to mean- der around a shopping centre in an aimless fashion. Many people use shopping in a lollabout fashion, whiling away an afternoon in their favourite mall. HOP ALONE Many people find that shop- ping partners are more akin to ac- complices in crime! They can egg us on to making purchases that we don’t want or need, and can have their own (sometimes unconscious) motives for encouraging us to shop. AY WITH CASH The researc h is clear: we pay 20 – 50% more when we shop with magic plastic, whether it’s using a credit or debit card. There’s some- thing about that magic plastic that can make us feel like we’re using Monopoly money, play money. Like it’s not real. SK “WHERE WILL I WEAR THIS?” Too many of us buy impulsively with no thought to what we’ll do with the things we buy. Our hard earned cash and even more pre- cious time is wasted on things that have no place in our closets, our homes or our lives. 49