Tips to Avoid Impulse Shopping on Cyber Monday

So, the Holidays have arrived. Thanksgiving is here, which means Black Friday and Cyber Monday are creeping around the corner. With the added challenges of 2020, Cyber Monday is sure to blow black Friday out of the water this year. I’m sure you’ve already got a slew of advertisements crowding your e-mail inbox and that you’re being bombarded by side bar marketing highlighting all of the % off deals.

For anyone who is trying to responsibly manage their finances, for those who may have been financially impacted due to the pandemic or even for those who are trying to reduce their clutter, the excess of sales can be an unwelcomed temptation. Buying anything simply for the fact that it’s a “great deal” isn’t a good reason to be buying it. This is not responsible budgeting. However, taking advantage of the opportunity to buy something (that you have good reason to be purchasing) at a discounted rate, as opposed to full price, is saving money! This is the determining factor when deciding if your purchase was an impulse buy or a strategic buy.  

Our advice to you, is that you stick to strategic buys this Cyber Monday, if you plan to participate in the discounts and deals. To help you achieve that healthy budgeting guideline, we have compiled some tips to avoid impulse shopping on Cyber Monday:

1. Make a Shopping List

Pretty straight forward, right? If you go in with a plan, you will be able to refer to your list every time you have to question yourself. To the question “Is this an impulse purchase?” you should be telling yourself “Yes”, if it’s not on your list.

Make your list as specific or as vague as you like, as long as it includes all the types of purchasing that you set out to do. For example, you can just add a line item that says “Christmas gift for Dad”, instead of specifying what the gift will actually be.

2. Create a Budget

It can be easy to get sucked into deals, especially when there are web banners from your favorite stores telling you that if you spend $200, you get $50 off….buy one, get one free…free shipping on all orders over $100…ect ect ect. You may end up spending more money than you set out to just over the thrill of snagging that deal. This is why a budget is helpful. If you have a projected amount that you want to spend, writing that number down ahead of time will help you control your purchasing.

3. Replenish your Staples

To get the most out of Cyber Monday deals, you must plan ahead. Think about items that you will always need (AKA your staples) and try to avoid purchasing them throughout the year. Use Cyber Monday as your opportunity to replenish these items. Some examples include socks, underwear, bras, plain tank tops or t-shirts, boxers, jeans and even towels or linens. Using these deals to your advantage, will ultimately save you money because replenishing your staples throughout the year at full price is more expensive.

Not only is this strategy saving you money, it’s also giving you that satisfaction of shopping on Cyber Monday and you don’t have to fight off the urge to spend money. You are simply channeling that into strategic purchases. Healthy budgeting!

4. Fill Your Shopping Cart and Leave it

Online shopping can be addicting, and you inevitably start to fawn over all of the options of things you can buy with the click of a button. It can be easy to drop items into your cart that catch your eye…but that you don’t really need. Even having a budget doesn’t always keep you in check. A further step of accountability that you can take to avoid impulse purchases is to “walk away” from your shopping cart and come back to it later. These days, Cyber Monday deals are running for multiple days and up to a week or more. So, you will not miss out on savings by taking a break to think about it.

Sometimes, when you come back to that cart after the rush of shopping dopamine has settled, you will notice there are some items that you can probably do without. Do a quick edit and then move forward!

5. Create a Buddy System

Having a friend or family member give you their opinion before you click that “place order” button can help you avoid some unnecessary purchasing. The people closest to you in your life will know you the best and therefore their opinions may be insightful. If you are about to purchase $250 worth of clothes and your best friend points out that you already bought new clothes recently, that your closet is too full and that you always talk about wanting to save money…you may be able to take a step back and think twice about spending that money. On the other hand, if you’re buying $150 worth of staples, that would have otherwise cost you $300-$400 throughout the year, having your best friend affirm that this is a good use of money will make you feel even more validated to go through with it.

Conclusion

All in all, we want you to make the most of your money and create healthy budgeting habits. Living beyond your means, due in part to the allure of materialism and the addiction of impulse purchasing, can easily put you into a cycle of debt. Debt causes stress and stress impacts your life in many unfortunate ways. You CAN walk the path of a debt free lifestyle, where you are financially free and independent! It starts with strategic Cyber Monday shopping (if any at all).