These days I am reading this book on personal finance management. Today I was reading the chapter on how to save money when I came across this tip. As a matter of fact, this was the first tip the author had to offer.
The concept is that when you go for shopping you unconsciously buy things that you don’t need. So the best way to save money is to avoid going for shopping at first place. It’s only natural and after thinking about it for a while I realized that I do it too.
So when I and my wife visit a mall in Dubai on a weekend, we come across many items that we really like. Those items could be anything like a piece of garment, an electronic device, something to eat, or something else. Although we are able to control our desire to spend money for 90% of those things but still we do spend money on 10% of the things and end up buying stuff. Now we can argue all we want that we needed the stuff and we only buy what we really need but the fact remains that we would have saved money if we had rather stayed home that day.
But the counter argument is that shopping is a means to survival in this modern modern world and you will be bored to death if don’t shop. However, compulsive shopping could be as harmful to you as smoking. So the best policy is to shop for only the things you really need. You can browse through ten different stores to find the best deal on what you want but never ever buy something that might end up in your closet collecting dust.
And in Dubai it’s even harder to follow this rule. The temptation to get the best of the best is too hard to resist.
By the way, the book is amazing. It has opened new horizons for me in personal finance and there is a lot that I have learned, and I haven’t even finished it yet.
Hi Umar,
Just stumbled across your blog. A nice read, I must say !
I live in Dubai too, and I know what you mean when you say, its difficult to resist buying stuff once you enter those glitzy malls..
What I normally do to avoid impulsive shopping is to ask myself, whether I’ll regret not having bought something maybe a month down the line…if the answer is a ‘no’, then I skip buying it ! It’s been working for me…most of the time anyway !
I have this new startegy of making up your mind what to buy before planning to visit the mall. This way I go to the specific store, get what’s required and walk out!
And when I decide to browse I just browse:)
Also for grocery, buy only what is needed.No extra sauces, not everything you want unless you dont have anything back home.
It’s easy to identify with that as I live in UAE too. Making a shopping list saves the hassles and confusions and splurging!