Early on in my efforts to simplify my life, it was clear my shopping habits were an issue. I knew I had to find a way to engage in intentional shopping habits in my pursuit of simplicity.
Even now, as I’m writing this post, we’re approaching the end of July. This past weekend I needed to stop by Hobby Lobby and the store was already filled with Halloween decor.
It had me thinking about how effective retailers’ efforts are in getting us to buy stuff we don’t need. It’s only been in the last decade that decorating your home for Halloween became a common thing.
I’m not saying you shouldn’t decorate for the holidays or buy fun things, in fact, I think you should.
However, we need to be aware of these marketing efforts. Retailers work for months to convince us of all the stuff we “need” and they are really good at their job.
But the truth is when we give into these marketing efforts, the end result is excess clutter in our homes.
However, creating intentional shopping habits will prevent a cluttered home full of things you neither use nor love. I want to share with you some of the shopping habits I’ve developed over the years as I’ve worked on simplifying my own life.
5 Intentional Shopping Habits That Will Simplify Your Life
1. Evaluate Each Item You Purchase
Intentional shopping habits require you to stop before you head to the checkout line or click that buy now button.
Look at your cart and determine why is it in there. Do you really need it? Was it a planned purchase?
You want to assess why you want to buy the items in the first place. You also want to carefully consider each purchase. Your goal is to ensure the purchase will add some value to your life and not just produce clutter!
When you do this, you’ll stop those impulse purchases that arise out of boredom or just to have something new.
When we buy things for the wrong reasons we waste more than our hard-earned money. Having a home full of clutter robs us of our peace and joy in our homes. Careless shopping also steals our time and creates a greater level of stress in our life.
To create intentional shopping habits be honest with yourself about your motivation for wanting to buy.
Before you head to the store or click on your favorite retailers’ website make a list – and stick to it! Do some research, give yourself time to think it over, and know you’re buying for the right reasons.
This is one of the best things you will do to create a home and life you love!
2. Consider Whether You Are Willing To Pay Full Price Right Now
2. Consider Whether You Are Willing To Pay Full Price Right NowLet me tell you I am a big bargain shopper. There’s a bit of a thrill in finding an awesome deal on something I’ve been eying.
Of course, this means that sales can be incredibly tempting. When you love saving money, it’s easy to focus on the amazing sale price. A great sale makes you feel like you scored a new treasure.
However, when you learn to stop buying things you don’t need you soon realize that a $50 blouse marked down to $15, that you never wear, is $15 wasted, not $35 saved.
Establishing intentional shopping habits means you stop purchasing things just to save a couple of bucks.
To resist the temptation of a great sale honestly consider whether you like the item enough to pay full price for it right now. If the answer is no, is it really something you need or love? If you are not willing to pay full price for the item it’s most likely not something you love or need.
By purchasing the item, instead of saving money what you’ve done is add to your clutter. Plus you’ve also shrunk your bank account.
To be intentional with your shopping make it a habit to avoid sale items you would not pay full price for!
3. Determine The Impact On Your Daily Life Without The Item
A big part of creating intentional shopping habits is determining ahead of time what is important to you and what things add value to your life.
Simplifying your home and life or even pursuing a minimalist lifestyle does not mean you stop buying things you truly need or want. It is perfectly okay, every now and again, to buy something just because you want to!
Rather, simplifying your home and life is about being intentional with what you are bringing into your home. You want things that are in your home to add value to your life. And you want to avoid bringing things into your home that will soon find themselves buried in a pile in the back of the closet creating more clutter.
Big Ticket Purchases
Most of us are pretty good about carefully thinking through big-ticket purchases before making them. Usually, we are not going to be tempted to impulse buy a new car, we research refrigerators and washers and dryers before making those purchases.
Each of those purchases will clearly have an impact on our life. A working car ensures we can get to where we need to go. A working refrigerator means avoiding daily trips to the grocery store and a washer and dryer saves a tremendous amount of time.
Small Everyday Purchases
However, it’s the little things we purchase here and there, that don’t seem like a big deal, that we fail to think through before making that purchase. Creating intentional shopping habits requires us to consider whether a purchase will add value to our life or simply add clutter to our homes.
Everything you own in your home is an investment. Whether it’s money spent on the purchase, time to maintain and take care of the item, or precious space in our home. You want to make sure you invest in things that will add value to your life.
A new dress that you find on sale or a new throw pillow for the couch may very well add value to your life, however, if you already have 10 dresses or 10 throw pillows is another one going to add value or create clutter? Think this through before you make your next purchase.
4. Is The Item Worth Space It Will Take Up In Your Home
4. Is The Item Worth Space It Will Take Up In Your HomeThe space in your home is valuable. When you don’t have space for the things in your home, it makes your home look and feel cluttered.
The best way to avoid clutter is to have a place for everything! This will make it easy to put things away when you’re done using them.
For this reason, intentional shopping habits requires thinking through whether you have a place for this item to live before you buy it! Where will you keep it?
If you don’t have a place to keep the item you’re considering purchasing, is it really worth the space it will take up in your home? You may want to hold off buying it until you can find or create a space for it. If you don’t you’ll be creating more clutter in your home, is the item really worth that?
Another thing to think about when deciding if an item is worth the space it will take up in your home is the items use.
Honestly assess how often you will use the item you want to buy. If you will use it on a regular basis and it will add value to your life, it may be worth purchasing.
On the other hand, if you’ll only use it occasionally, it might not be worth the space it will take up. Instead, look into borrowing or renting the item.
The space in your home is too valuable to waste on things you won’t use very often.
5. Do You Own a Similar Item You Like Better
I was working on a project that required a staple gun. So I ran over to Home Depot to pick up some staples. They had a sale on a staple gun that came with staples. The sale made the staple gun only a few dollars more than it would have cost me to buy just the staples. I foolishly purchased the new staple gun. When I went to use it, I liked the one I already had way better. What I did was waste a few dollars and create extra clutter because I did not need two staple guns.
We do this with a lot of things. You buy a new pair of jeans and keep wearing our old favorites. Perhaps it’s a new toaster when the toaster oven you already own does the same job and more.
Whether it’s a new tool, a kitchen appliance, or an item of clothing. If you already own something similar or something that will serve the same function, consider if you need to buy something new after all.
Creating intentional shopping habits doesn’t mean you can never go shopping or treat yourself to something fun. It is about becoming more intentional with what you purchase and bring into your home by carefully evaluating each purchase.
Please remember that the state of your home is a reflection of the state of your life. If you are regularly impulse shopping it will impact your resources in money, time, and space in your home. In order to avoid cluttering your life and your home with things, you nether use or love, be intentional with your shopping.
By doing so you are giving yourself time, space, and freedom to create a life you love!
[…] Find more tips on creating intentional shopping habits here. […]