8 Tips for Smart Shopping

Many of us need a little reminder on how to shop smarter. Especially during times like Eid and Puja, when we buy a lot of new things for ourselves, our families, our loved ones, and our homes.
You can find the answer to your relationship with shopping by asking yourself a few questions:

• Do I always buy what I want to buy?
• Do I spend more than my budget every time I shop for myself?
• Do I buy unnecessary things just because they are on sale?
• Do I buy things I don’t need?
• Do I always buy things without thinking first?
  These questions will help you understand your shopping habits. Now, let’s talk about how to shop smarter.

Many of us need a little reminder on how to shop smarter. Especially during times like Eid and Puja, when we buy a lot of new things for ourselves, our families, our loved ones, and our homes.

You can find the answer to your relationship with shopping by asking yourself a few questions:

• Do I always buy what I want to buy?

• Do I spend more than my budget every time I shop for myself?

• Do I buy unnecessary things just because they are on sale?

• Do I buy things I don’t need?

• Do I always buy things without thinking first?

These questions will help you understand your shopping habits. Now, let’s talk about how to shop smarter.

1. Shop with a list

Most of us end up spending a lot more when we go shopping without a list. Because we buy things we don’t need at the time. We may not use them much when we get home, but we buy things on impulse.

When you are buying something necessary or a hobby, you can give some time before shopping, to make a plan. That way, your focus will be on the necessary things.

To make a list, review what is already in the house or cupboard. Write down any deficiencies that need to be filled. This will help you understand what you really need. And be sure to keep the list with you while shopping and shop accordingly.

2. Create a budget

Creating a budget is very important in ‘smart shopping’. Many people spend extra money while shopping, simply because they do not decide how much they will spend in advance.

You must decide a specific number in advance and then leave the house for shopping. This will greatly reduce your tendency to overspend.

Try to find a specific reason for shopping. How much it will cost to get there, how much you will feel comfortable spending, why this purchase seems “necessary” to you, whether this expense will create any financial pressure on your next days—consider these things before creating a budget.

3. Set a time limit

Don’t let yourself wander aimlessly around the shopping mall. Instead, set a time limit. Many people spend hours going to the shopping mall and looking at things. But time is precious.

Decide exactly how long you will be at the shopping mall. One important aspect of smart shopping is not to encourage yourself to buy more.

The longer you stay at the shopping mall, the more you will feel that there were many better options than the one you bought. This will also make you feel upset, you will not be able to be satisfied with your ‘choice’. You will feel that if you buy a few more instead of one, this problem will be solved. This thought will motivate you to buy more.

So, don’t spend too much time at the shopping mall after you finish shopping. Hey, if you’re not shopping, instead of visiting the shopping mall, find other options so that you can spend your time better.

4. Shop with a list

Most of us end up spending a lot more when we go shopping without a list. Because we buy things we don’t need at the time. We may not use them much when we get home, but we buy things on impulse.

When you are buying something necessary or a hobby, you can give some time before shopping, to make a plan. That way, your focus will be on the necessary things.

To make a list, review what is already in the house or cupboard. Write down any deficiencies that need to be filled. This will help you understand what you really need. And be sure to keep the list with you while shopping and shop accordingly.

5. Create a budget

Creating a budget is very important in ‘smart shopping’. Many people spend extra money while shopping, simply because they do not decide how much they will spend in advance.

You must decide a specific number in advance and then leave the house for shopping. This will greatly reduce your tendency to overspend.

Try to find a specific reason for shopping. How much it will cost to get there, how much you will feel comfortable spending, why this purchase seems “necessary” to you, whether this expense will create any financial pressure on your next days—consider these things before creating a budget.

6. Set a time limit

Don’t let yourself wander aimlessly around the shopping mall. Instead, set a time limit. Many people spend hours going to the shopping mall and looking at things. But time is precious.

Decide exactly how long you will be at the shopping mall. One important aspect of smart shopping is not to encourage yourself to buy more.

The longer you stay at the shopping mall, the more you will feel that there were many better options than the one you bought. This will also make you feel upset, you will not be able to be satisfied with your ‘choice’. You will feel that if you buy a few more instead of one, this problem will be solved. This thought will motivate you to buy more.

So, don’t spend too much time at the shopping mall after you finish shopping. Hey, if you’re not shopping, instead of visiting the shopping mall, find other options so that you can spend your time better.

7. Find the right time to shop for you

It must be said that shopping is a lot of work. If you do not have the opportunity to choose a lot of time, the best option is often not available. Sometimes there are times when the shopping mall is very crowded. There is no opportunity to enter and look at any store. If there is no way, you have to buy and leave.

This is another important aspect of smart shopping. Choosing the best time to shop.

Choose the time of day when the shopping mall will be less crowded. Instead of shopping continuously, take a break once or twice, sit somewhere and relax. Then check again.

8. Do not shop when you are tired, hungry, lonely, depressed or have nothing to do

Yes, this may be a tiring list of our various emotions, but these emotions drive many of us towards shopping. We also shop as a way to cope with various problems in life.

Another name for these is ‘emotional triggers’, which motivate you to make unconscious and unnecessary purchases.

Whenever you feel this kind of emotion, don’t go out shopping. Do something else to control your emotions, or to feel better.

9. Ask yourself, “Can I really do this?”

We buy things out of instant gratification that we may never use. Day after day, it will sit in the closet, of no use. It will just cost you money.

One strategy for controlling this habit is to imagine that you already have the item. That is, what you are holding at the moment, you paid the shopkeeper for, bought it, and now it is in your closet. Imagine this scene of the dress in the closet.

Now ask yourself, does it make me happy? Or does it look a little dirty, from being in the closet?

If after all, everything seems fine, you still feel the same interest in that item, then think about buying it.

10. Don’t buy just because it is on sale

Another reason for our impulsive shopping is sales. Buying something on sale gives us a sense of victory, sometimes we even see it as a sign of our intelligence.

But what is a sale really about? A company gives you a sale because it wants to sell you a product. A sale creates a sense of victory in you and you buy the product. In other words, it is not your conscious purchase, but a company gives you their product through a sale.

Sales do benefit us in the case of essential items. But if you are motivated to buy something only because of the sale, it will not be smart shopping.

Your purchasing decision should be under your control. Consider buying a product on sale only if it is within your list and budget.

11. Remember, the seller’s job is to sell to you

No matter how sincere the seller is, there is no way to deny that he is there to sell you something. The seller will always want you to buy something and then leave the store. So this buyer-seller relationship is part of their business.

So no matter how sincere or extraordinary a salesperson is, they are not your friend there. Many times, we buy to please the seller, thinking about what the seller will think.

Another sales tactic is the exact opposite, the sellers may not be friendly at all. Rather, it will seem that they are ‘judged’ us. In such a situation, we feel that we are ‘small’ in front of the seller. Rather than that, we buy something even though we don’t like it.

Be careful about these two things. You are a conscious buyer. You will buy only what you need, and you will buy the best. Do not give room to the feelings created by someone else in the middle. Because whatever you buy, the money and effort are going to you.