Do you like shopping? Do you often buy things you don’t need, just because you were in a shop and you liked them?

If you do, then you may be suffering from impulse shopping: a modern “disease” which fits well the consumerism era, and which drives some of us deep in debt, if things get out of control.

Why would somebody need 20 pairs of shoes? I can’t tell, but I know I have more than 20 pairs of shoes, in different colors and shapes and for different purposes. For example, I have 3 pairs of sport shoes. Do I ever do sports? Never. Then why not having only one pair, just for the event I’d like to go for a longer walk, and I want to be comfortable.

I have maybe 10 pairs of elegant shoes, which high hills, which I barely use, because I cannot walk well on high heels. Why do I need them? I just bought them because I liked them in the shops, and I felt an urge to try and take them with me.

Most of all, I discovered one thing that made me think deeper at our modern finance management methods: I tend to spend more since I’ve got my credit cards. If I actually don’t see the cash flowing through my fingers, I don’t have the sensation I spend too much. It’s so easy just to show the shop vendor a small plastic card, and to give a signature!

Methods of controlling impulse shopping:

• Don’t go into stores if you don’t need anything. Just watching is not suitable for impulse shoppers.
• When you go shopping for things you really need, each time you are tempted to take unnecessary items from the shelves, close your eyes and picture yourself on the bottom of a deep black whole which impersonates debt.
• Try to use cash as much as possible, don’t take your credit cards with you.
• Find yourself an inexpensive hobby, such as skating, or jogging, or walking in the park, or playing chess, or whatever weird unusual sports you might happen to like. You’ll have less time available for shopping.

What do you think? Are you an impulse shopper? How can you manage that?