The trick to avoiding impulse shopping is to come up with a simple solution that you can easily stick to. And when I started asking these 3 simple question from myself before I bought a new garment, the amount of money I spent decreased, but thevalue of my wardrobe increased.
How on earth? Because I considered for a second whether what I was buying was actually worth buying!
The thing with these 3 questions is that you already know the answer to all of them. Even before you ask them!
- Your brain will answer instinctively and then you just act accordingly.
- In addition to these 3 basic questions I will provide you a bonus Q that has proven a very valuable metric for me.
- I hope these will help you avoid impulse buying in the future too!
1 Do I need this?
It was a revolutionary game-changer switching from a full-on shopaholic to shopping better. Obviously you can’t switch from a shopaholic to a conscious shopper overnight, but asking this question makes it easier for you to stay on the right track.
So, every time you try on a new piece of clothing, or admire the model on an online store, STOP! And ask yourself, do you actually need it. You already know the answer to this: of course you don’t. Your wardrobe is bulging by the seams, you don’t need another top or skirt.
The point of this question is to remove the justification from that particular purchase. Once you’ve removed the justification from the picture, it’s easier to dodge impulse shopping.
And here’s the thing! If you still think about that garment 2 days later and you really, really love it, then it’s justified to buy it. Because when we love a garment that much, we tend to wear it for longer, and take good care of it.
2 Will I wear this after 3 years?
Obviously, when we shop for need, we don’t need to ask the first question. If the need has already been established, the focus should then be on different matters. And those matters are quality and style.
- Ask yourself, is the styling of this garment classic enough that it will stay on trend year after year.
- Will I have the guts to still wear this in 3 years’ time?
- And more importantly, will this piece of garment still be in one piece after 3 years?
Fast fashion brands have made clothes something we see as disposable, but they definitely shouldn’t be so! Clothes have a function, and that function should be fulfilled for longer than 2 wears. But how can you know whether a garment is of good quality or not?
When online shopping, it’s impossible to know, of course. When shopping in an actual store, you’ve got 2 easy ways to figure out whether a garment is good quality or not:
- How sturdy is the fabric? Is the fabric see-through? If the fabric feels flimsy and weak, that’s exactly what it is. Don’t waste your money.
- Do the inside seams have holes between the stitches and are there strings hanging everywhere? Turn the garment upside-down, stretch it a bit, and take a look at the side seams. If there are massive holes between the seam stitches, the garment will fall apart after couple wears.
At the end of the day, quality is something we can all see and feel. Unfortunately we’re so used to shit quality that a strong, proper fabric can feel even scary to us.
We immediately think “Oh, this must be expensive!”, and that’s another reason why we can’t stop impulse shopping. Our understanding of value is completely fucked up.
3 Does this bring me any added value?
We need to STOP focusing on the price of the garments alone! It would be so much more sustainable for you, as well as for the planet to only buy clothes that you actually want. Stop buying clothes for the sake of buying clothes, as in, buying clothes “Because it was so cheap!!”
How much does the cheap price actually benefit you in the long run? What do you actually get for a ‘cheap price’? A quick fix. And a shit-ton of trash. We need to start shifting our focus from price to actual value.
When you understand the importance of actual, real-life value, impulse shopping quickly becomes a thing of the past. What is actual value, then?
- Valuable clothes bring you actual benefit: for example, make you feel extra confident or badass.
- Clothes that are actual investments in yourself are valuable, regardless of the price tag.
- Also, when you buy clothes as an investment in yourself, you’ll get joy out of them for a long time to come.
By styling one piece of garment in a new way you get a new outfit, which brings you exactly the same feeling of joy that leaving a store does. Thus, when you shop your wardrobe, you don’t spend any money, but you get a lot of value nonetheless.
At the end of the day, if you only buy clothes for the sake of them being cheap, how valuable are you then? Do you seriously deserve nothing better than a cheap price tag?
- Would I wear this in front of my ex?
A simple but efficient extra tip! I dunno about you, but for me this is the ultimate test. Because of course the way you want to feel in front of your ex is confident, strong and like you’re on top of the situation, right?
I mean, we all know Princess Diana and the revenge dress. And those are the footsteps I wish to follow in!
Because there’s no denying, that if a garment makes me feel confident, beautiful and like “hey, you fucked up right here!”, then that’s a garment worth having! Basically, if the 3 previous questions feel like too much to ask, just stick to this one, and it will steer you to the right direction.
