I know, I know, another article on how to save money.
You’ve read them all, right? I did too. And the majority of them had suggestions that didn’t even apply to me, like stop buying coffee out and make it at home, get rid of cable, and stop eating out at restaurants. I already did all that, and I still had money problems.
If you, too, have money problems, you already know you need to spend less. The question is, how?
I’m sharing the things that worked for me. I identified the biggest problems I had with spending and found creative ways to fix it.
The first thing I did was identify the top two spending issues that I have.
This was easy to discover because I track all my spending in my YNAB budget so I know exactly where it’s all going. I could see that the majority of my spending was done shopping online and grocery shopping.
This may be different for you, maybe you spend too much on travel, or entertainment, but if you’re anything like me, and shopping is your downfall, this list should help you enormously.
7 Ways I Drastically Reduced the Money I spend Shopping
1. Make it harder to spend money online
In this day and age with digital currencies and shopping at the touch of a button from your bed, it’s WAY too easy to spend money without even a thought.
Make it a little bit harder to spend your precious money by disconnecting all of your credit and debit cards from your frequent online shops.
I started by going to Paypal and Venmo and removing all of my saved payments, then I headed to Amazon and took off all my saved payments there.
You may not need to disconnect every payment from every place.
Some things, like instacart, may be essential to running your home. The point here is not to make your life miserable and difficult, but to give you time to think before making a purchase.
If I have to get up off the couch or out of bed and walk to my purse, pull out my wallet, find my card, type in the name and numbers, and hit purchase, it’s only going to be for something I really want. I’m not going to bother with all of that for an impulse purchase.
2. Let items sit in your cart for a minimum of 2 days before purchase
This rule was a game changer for me. I do a lot of shopping online, and companies are damn good at convincing you to BUY NOW.
You do NOT need to.
Ever.
There is no reason to check out with a product as soon as you see it. Let it sit in your cart, or click that little star button on your browser and bookmark it for later.
If you still feel like you have to have it two days later, you can go ahead and check out.
But for me, most of the time, I find that it’s not even something I need or want, I just wanted that satisfaction of buying, that little dopamine hit from clicking order.
3. Limit the number of ads you see on social media
Social media is so tricky, you’re being advertised to almost constantly. For me, the ads that pop up on facebook were a big problem, they were targeting me so they were always things that I definitely wanted, but certainly didn’t need.
There are a number of ways to limit the ads that you see on social media. Try any of the tactics below and I think you’ll notice a big difference!
Install an ad blocker
You can install an ad blocker to help cut out the number of ads you’re seeing on social media.
Hide triggering ads
Another option is to ‘hide’ ads that are triggering for you. I had to ‘hide’ ads from Eddie Bauer and Blick art supplies because it always made me want the things they were showing. Without seeing those ads, I don’t have any issue avoiding shopping there.
Cut down your social media usage
A third option, which is admittedly harder, is spending less time on social media.
I mean, we all know it’s not good for our brains to be constantly scanning Instagram, Tik Tok, and Facebook, but those platforms have a lot of pros too and do provide value in their own way. But, if your social media use is causing you to buy more, you need to solve this issue.
An easy way to limit social media is to turn off all notifications from social media so you’re not constantly being beckoned, and put your phone away from time to time.
Don’t bring your phone to bed so you can’t check it before sleep and after you wake up. Put it in the other room while you’re trying to work or spend time with your kids. Make some physical space between you and the media.
4. Shop online for your groceries
I know, I just spent several paragraphs telling you to cut down on online shopping and this advice is the opposite of that, but it DOES help with spending.
Grocery stores are experts at convincing you to impulse buy.
They place common comfort foods and nostalgia foods at the end caps so you have to see them as you walk by to pick up staples like milk and toilet paper.
You know you don’t need these foods and they’re not good for you, but you stick them in your cart because they’re on sale and they make you feel some type of way.
Put an end to this with online grocery shopping.
Use any of the many apps and sites to order your groceries online and go to the store to pick them up, or if you must, have them delivered to your home.
Online grocery orders can seem more expensive up front because you’re paying someone to shop for you, but it will save you in buying piles of food that you normally wouldn’t, just because it was there.
Also, shopping online can save you time, lots of it!
We order weekly from Misfits Market, which gets delivered right to our doorstep. Fresh veggies, fruits, meats, and dairy show up every Wednesday and all we have to do is spend 5-10 minutes adjusting our pre-filled cart every week.
We live 30 minutes drive from the grocery store, so for us to go food shopping it’s 30 minutes there, an hour in the store, and 30 minutes back. That’s just the time spent, there’s also the act of picking out food, getting the baby in and out of the car, dealing with traffic. It’s a lot.
Ordering online saves us time, which we can spend on more worthwhile things, like making money and having quality time with our family.
5. Never shop hungry
Speaking of grocery shopping, never ever shop hungry. This is a surefire way to buy a bunch of expensive junk that you don’t need, and adds up quick on the bill. Have a good protein packed meal before you hit the shops, I promise it helps!
6. Cut down on alcohol consumption
I know, this is one of the least fun items on this list, but it really makes a big difference.
Beer, wine, and liquor are incredibly expensive, especially if you have fancy tastes. Buying them out at a bar or restaurant is one of the worst things for your budget, but even filling your fridge at home with alcohol adds up quickly.
Alcohol is doing you absolutely no favors, it’s empty calories, it gives you hangovers, and causes conflicts in relationships. Cut that crap out, at least most of the time.
If you have a daily drinking habit, cut it to the weekends only, if you’re already a weekend drinker, cut it to once a month. Cutting down on this habit can save you SO much money, and earn you good health too.
7. Don’t even step foot in a store unless you have to
I had a bad habit of ‘killing time’ at stores.
I would go for drives with my baby to get him to take a nap, and those drives almost always ended at a store, making the excuse that I just needed to go in to pick up one thing, but it’s never one thing, is it?
It was easy to just load the baby into a cart and kill some time in a shop before heading back home. And if we’re walking around a store with a cart, you know we’re also putting things into that cart. Things we don’t need. Things we didn’t even know existed moments before.
This is especially hard if you have older children with you because they’re asking to buy things they don’t need, too.
Target was one of the toughest places for me to go, and it’s the same for a lot of women. Why? Because Target caters to women and moms. They know exactly what they’re doing and how to get you to spend.
Making shopping lists didn’t help me here because the urge to impulse buy was too strong.
So I stopped going.
I stopped putting my baby in the car to get him to sleep, which not only saved me money at the shops but saved money on gas and wear and tear on my car too.
I found a cheaper way to get my baby to nap. I put him in the stroller and took him for walks. It was better for my mental and physical health, cost us nothing, and we both got some fresh air and sunshine, as well as enjoyment of nature.
All that to say, don’t go to the store unless you have to. If you do have to go, commit to shopping from your list. Find cheaper or free ways to entertain yourself.
- Go for a walk
- Visit a park
- Go to the museum or zoo- most have discount days and coupons online
- Go to the beach
- Visit a friend
I hope this list has helped you find a few hacks to save money on shopping. Following these guidelines has helped me tremendously to stop impulse shopping and spending unnecessarily.
Please feel free to comment below with your own ideas for how to spend less money shopping!