15 Nov Why You Should Ditch the Shopping Carts to Avoid Overspending

Confession time: I don’t use a cart when I go shopping. Let me clarify: if I have a strict budget, I don’t grab a cart when shopping for clothes. Instead, I hold everything in my hand or one of those little hand carts, but never the one on wheels}.

This has saved me major time and money and if you tend to suffer from buyer’s remorse, it can help you too!

Now obviously with products like electronics or big ticket items, you probably want to get a cart {no one’s carrying a flat screen tv!!}. But for department stores where you find yourself being lured in and buying one more top, another pair of shoes or a jacket when you already have three others just like it, going cart-free can work wonders.

[bctt tweet=”Why You Should Ditch the Shopping Carts to Avoid Overspending” username=”PatriceJWill”]

But how? When you have to feel the weight of your purchases {literally feel how heavy everything is!}, you’re less inclined to just grab another item off the rack.

It’s kinda like when you pay for something with your credit card versus paying cash. By swiping the card you may not feel the gravity of the purchase, but shelling out cold hard cash will make you rethink if you really want/need to buy it.

I’ve had so many instances when I’ve gone into a store with the intention of purchasing one or two pieces of clothing and before I know it I have an arm full of “stuff” and I’m ready to reach for a cart. But that’s the moment I stop myself and take inventory of what’s already in my hands and draped over my arms. Instead of grabbing more, 90 percent of the time I find myself putting things back on the rack that I impulsively picked up. Or if I really, realllly feel like I need one more item, then I put at least one other item back.

Department stores are set up to make you spend, spend, spend and make you think you’re getting a deal {remember this post: Budget Shopping Tips that Are Really Making You Broke}? And this doesn’t just happen at department stores, this can go for thrift shops as well.

When sales associates ask if you’d like a cart, sure they’re being nice, but it’s also a way to get you to overspend. They’re hoping you’ll just dump everything in the cart, keep pushing it down more and more aisles, grab more items that catch your eye and get to the register and spend more than you intended.

So again, lugging your clothes around a store can make you second guess picking up another item. This is just one of the ways we can all be savvier shoppers.

How do you avoid overspending and buyer’s remorse?