This summer I have been trying to use some of our extra time at home to purge the house, work on projects and shop less. Overall it has been going pretty good. My three older kids went to a VBS/camp one week which allowed me to tackle a big purge in their rooms.
I shared some of my goals about a month ago which included not looking at any influencers over the summer, to track my purchases, and to work on purging the house. Yet just the past few weeks I felt the shopping bug creep back up again. I was also logged back into Instagram. I was checking in on a couple of influencers. How did this happen? I wasn't even sure.
So I pulled up my online orders, added them to my list of purchases, and was able to analyze where my sudden spending increase came from. It was eye opening.
It all started around Amazon Prime Day...(of course it did!!!)
Usually when there is a big sale, I allow myself to buy a few things that are on our wish lists. I can save them as gifts, things I have been wanting are a great deal, etc. I always feel pretty good about this because I am not just buying stuff because they are on sale. But I was taking advantage of buying things I would eventually buy but was now at a reduced price.
So I bought just a few things. And then it was our son's birthday and I was buying stuff for him. And it started to spiral. And by spiral, it was not anything crazy, but I definitely had a handful of small purchases made that I really should have held off on for the sake of my summer no spending goals.
I also noticed that when I put in a Target or Walmart delivery order, I was adding a few things to get to free shipping. Again, nothing expensive or crazy, but it was feeding my shopping bug.
My conclusions were:
+ I needed the reminder to stop impule buying. If I wanted something for me or the kids, I need to add it to our wish lists.
+ It is okay to take advantage of sales. But it needs to stop there. Be more mindful that it doesn't overflow into other spending.
+ I am also okay with making purchases that help me finish a project. It was just these purchases that fed a habit that lead to other non project purchases.
+ If I need to put in a delivery order and need to add things for free shipping, can I add household items instead or even wait a day to better figure out what we might need?
+ STOP LOOKING AT INFLUENCERS. Even a not usually heavy Amazon pusher that I get newsletters from, sent at least three consecutive emails about prime day. It was kind of annoying. Perhaps I need to just delete them right away or consider unsubscribing. I didn't need consistent pressure to buy.
+ I also realized that a YouTube comercial influenced something I purchased and one of my favorite morning talk shows had an influencer on sharing cute summer ideas with kids that lead me to her Instagram and then a purchase. The selling comes at us at all angles. I want to be more aware and choose to not indulge.
+ And even if I do see a great product, is there a way I can make that work using something I already have? Often times I already have what I need but just needed inspiration to use it in a different way.
So as we head into our last month of summer, I hope to be a little more disciplined. But like anything else in life - being able to accept my mistakes, analyze my habits, and learn from it - I can make progress little by little.
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