PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – As the weekend approaches, perhaps you and your family or friends will head out for some shopping.
However, with inflation eating away at our dollars now more than ever, we have to be mindful of impulse buying. It gets even the most care of shoppers and it’s big business for retailers.
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“[It’s] a method of self-soothing,” explained Trae Bodge. “We are dealing with a lot and so sometimes it just feels good to open your laptop and scroll around or stroll through a store.”
We do it a lot, a OnePoll survey indicated we impulse spend about $280/month, which Bodge said we need to rethink.
“Inflation is up over 7-percent, we really can’t afford to buy things that we don’t need or can’t use,” Bodge said.
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“That’s when you get sucked in, it’s like something that you don’t think that you need but then you need it,” Bodge added.
So, what to do if you see something you suddenly really want?
“I would say to walk away, give it a day or two, and then if you feel just as strongly about that item then you can make your move and make your purchase,” she said.
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“If you’re shopping around and you find something that appeals to you to ask yourself very plainly, is this something that I need?”
If it is, before you put it in your virtual shopping cart, Bodge recommended downloading a browser extension.
“As you are shopping around online it will alert you to available savings and it also compares prices on Amazon which I find helpful because there’s an assumption that Amazon is always cheaper and that’s not always the case,” she said.
That may take the “impulse” out of impulse buying but according to Bodge, it needs to.
“We can’t be such impulse shoppers anymore because everything is so much more expensive,” she said.
Bodge recommended Cently by CouponFollow, the Sidekick by CouponCabin, SlickDeals, Honey and more.
You can see her full list of recommendations at this link.
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