How I Stopped Impulse Buying | minimalist tips to stop shopping & spend intentionally

As much as we are all trying to shop and consume with more thought and intention, every once in awhile. an impulse buy sneaks its way in there, or at least the temptation does. So how do you talk yourself out of that YOLO, FOMO or just feeling of being spendy?

This is what I tell myself when I notice I'm starting to act impulsively, or feeling spendy. It doesn't work all the time, but it's a great reminder and exercise to try and helps me a lot when it does.

#minimalism #stopshopping #lowbuy

Time Stamps ⏰
Intro 0:00
1) ask WHY 1:54
2) WHAT am I rationalizing? 2:13
2a) what else do you deserve? 3:35
3) WHO is benefitting from my money? 3:46
4) Is it time to take a break? 4:49
5) am I comparing myself? 5:30
6) does it pass "THE TEST"? 7:12
7) am I self-sabotaging? 8:52
8) will this purchase contribute to my well-being? 10:20
9) remember how far you've come 12:00
Outro 13:23

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ABOUT ME:🌿
I'm Christina, friendly neighbourhood human on the internet slash pharmacist, hence the "apothecary" theme in my name. I'm living in Toronto, Canada and on my channel you'll find me on my journey towards minimalism, being content with less, recovery from a shopping addiction, and my journey towards financial freedom from over $120,000 in student loan debt. Thank you SO much for watching and taking the time out of your day to support my channel. A little thumb always helps support me!

[destineecarrillo]

One of my old go tos was “I deserve it”. I love how you flipped it to “I deserve to reach my goals”. Yes m’am!!!🥳

[wcblzsi]

Whenever I want to buy something online I just declutter my closet. All what I want is a change. I guess the change I really want is to get RID of clothes but my brain mixes it up and thinks it wants to get more

[darklausal]

I stopped the "Treat Yourself" shopping mentality. I practice more of self care, paint my own nails after I do a foot sock, a sothing mosturize face mask, using what I have.

[mrsf]

I have recently fallen down the rabbit hole of make up purchases. Your video has made me realise that I am trying to recreate youthful skin because I am feeling bad about myself. I actually don’t need a new concealer or foundation, I need to accept the ageing process and focus on feeling content as I am. Thank you for the refocus! Xx

[sarah.bea.]

My “test” is taking screenshots. I’m always surprised when I go through my camera roll because most of the things I have already forgotten about. And whenever I’m really rushing things I take a minute before placing the order to ask myself how upset I’d be if I missed out on the item/bargain. So many orders were avoided this way :)

[BeeBaldwin]

My biggest enemy! I started asking myself “When are you going to use that? Where are you going to put it? Are you just bored?”

[sahrak]

My good friend and I have been each other’s support through the emotions that come out of our finances/financial journey. We randomly do challenges throughout the year (right now we’re doing a no spend challenge until June 1st) and whenever I want to buy something outside of my “allowed items” I text her first. It’s helpful because she isn’t emotionally attached to the item. She’s like “don’t you already have something like that?” or “Can you wait until the challenge is over?” Changes everything for me. I recommend getting a buddy for impulse buys.

[yen]

Sometimes I wait long enough to buy an item in my cart and when it goes out of stock, I breathe a sigh of relief like phew that’s one or two less items i’m tempted to buy 😅

[jucxox]

Brilliant tips!

Here are some of the things I do when I feel spendy:

- I pay bills immediately so then I don’t even have the money to think about being spendy anymore.

- When I build carts for things I want (clothes, pointless stuff from Amazon, etc.), I back out and build carts for things I need (groceries, toiletries, etc.). Once I see how there’s not much left for what I want after I buy what I need, I just don’t buy it or save it for later and think about it.

- I review my budget over and over. I look at my goals, and I remind myself of what is more critical or important. I try to focus on a certain win that is more important to me than the thing I want to buy.

- Create a no spend streak on your calendar. I used to need to spend money every. single. day.

- An oldy but a goody, I make sure it’s never as easy as clicking a button. Cc is never saved so I can’t just push a button. Even getting out the physical card is a chore.

- I really take an inventory about my surroundings and what could be triggering me to want to spend. Social media, family, boredom, stress, etc.

- Last but not least, watch your videos to help me feel hopeful and relaxed, then let the spendy feeling pass.

[KarennaBoychuk]

I get a similar ‘rush’ when I don’t hit ‘confirm purchase’ as much as when I do press it. I feel good about saving that money and having the self control to do it! 👏🏻

[carolinah]

One thing I try to use is to ask myself if I want to deal with the mess of decluttering or selling it in the future. I think it was A small wardrobe who said that if you can’t just declutter your stuff and give it to charity but Instead have to sell it or give it to someone, you think twice before buying since it can be such a pain in the butt. And it also gets quite obvious that things decrease ALOT in value (if it’s not like a designer handbag or something similair).

[jamie]

The quote I live by lately is :

“I saw Cady Heron wearing army pants & flip flops... so I bought army pants & flip flops” LOL

If the thing I’m looking at buying feels like it fits that quote I don’t get it, I just leave it in the cart for the time being to think about further. Because if it fits that quote it usually means it’s headed toward the zone of “fantasy” self.

[lindatippett]

I’m so glad I found you, I have been struggling with shopping addiction for thirty years of my life on and off and it’s something I’ve never really addressed. I have suffered from severe depression for the last five years and now my shopping addiction has come back and it’s destroying my recovery. Your videos are very practical and although I have only just discovered you, I feel that I can implement a lot of your advice. Thank you so much!

[jasminelantinen]

Currently working my way out of a shopping addiction.. I’m moving to a different state to a much smaller space and trying to downsize to fit what my new lifestyle will be. Surprisingly, one thing that has helped me is over the past year; I have been exercising self-restraint by actually going to stores, looking at items and not buying them. Leaving stores empty handed. For some reason, this has psychologically been a big factor in helping my brain to not rationalize impulse buys. Now I feel I have the strength to go out and do things and NOT be spending $300 a day on my days off. I still get the satisfaction from looking at items and realizing that if I don’t LOVE it I don’t need to go home with it. It made me realize a lot of the things I had been buying I didn’t actually LOVE, but instead was filling a void. Resulting in me using once and forgetting or never using the items at all. I love your tips here!!

[alicetrieu]

I am tempted for a new pair of jeans. But have I been wearing jeans lately? No. I have plenty of other pants. Yes. My why is “boredom”.

[CapeVenus]

I came across one of your low-buy videos a few months ago and it inspired me to journey through my own low-buy year. It's...going 🙃. I've limited myself to one item per month.I talk myself of out unnecessary shopping by STERNLY telling myself, "You don't need that." Then I walk out of the store feeling sad I didn't buy the cute shoe, but it's alright, because it means I have more money in my account than I would've had, had I bought the shoe

[zm]

Completely agree with 4:20, these products made us poorer and poorer and these money goes to the companies that do a lot of damages to the world environment.

[kathleenhill]

Had to watch it 2x for maximum absorption. The who is this benefitting question is actually what helped me finally quit smoking 25 yrs. ago. The tobacco company was getting richer and all I was getting was dead

[lindayeh]

My way of talking myself out of impulse buying is to find faults in the item I have my eye on. If there is ONE thing that I don’t like about it or if I wonder if it fits with what I already have, I put it back. It works for me so far.

[Iquey]

Tip #4 taking a break is so important. I turned 30 last December and while I do care about things such as skincare, incorporating some retinol in my beauty routine and more frequently wearing sunscreen, the AMOUNT...THE SHEER VOLUME, THE WATERFALL of anti-aging ads for This and That skin concern, is phenomenally disturbing. It's like google Adsense knows I'm 30 and won't let me forget it for a SINGLE DAY. It's like you type in retinol ONCE in any search bar, and a bomb is triggered.