February 12 2014, Wednesday
Impulsive Buying
Have you ever spent a fortune to
buy something and yet have never used it? I have! These moments of rude awakening
of our own stupidity usually take place when we are tidying up or moving our apartment
or office or when we are renovating.
I am guilty as charged in the
impulsive buying of an exercise bike, a treadmill, dumb-bells, silver tea-set,
carpets, a heavily embroidered jacket and more. These were all products I
bought and never or rarely used and then given away.
Now I don’t do window shopping
anymore. Instead, I do targeted purchases. I need a handbag. I go for one. I
need a party dress. I buy one. I have already become much less impulsive but I
am still very susceptible to marketing gimmicks.
The one trick I always fall for
is the claim of “limited edition”. I was shopping for one handbag and ended up
buying two with the more expensive one being a “limited edition”. I didn’t
actually need two but since I had been a patron of this brand for so many
years, how could I be excluded from possessing this “limited edition”? I didn’t
want to feel bad afterwards!
Another of our mentality being made
use of is our desire to save. Last December, I was at my favourite skin-product
store. The offer was a whole set of travel-sized products worth $500 with a
purchase of over $3,000. At that moment, I seemed to be very sane when actually
I was not. “Anyway, I need these products! This is good bargain!” The bill came
up to be over $6,000 and I was given two sets! I left the store with two bags
full of products telling myself that this was definitely not impulsive buying.
But when I arrived home, I discovered that there were products bought in 2011
and still not opened.
As I age, I have become wiser, I
hope. I am keeping a detailed list of all the skin products I have along with
the month and year of purchases! I cannot afford to be impulsive anymore!
