Buying things online is so easy, it opens us up to purchasing more things we probably don't need—but want in the heat of the moment. Personal finance weblog The Simple Dollar offers a few easy ways to avoid impulse buys online.
One of the easiest ways to avoid one-click purchases is to manually enter your credit card information every time:
I don't store my credit card information in online sites
. For me to go ahead with a purchase, I have to actually dig out my credit card or other payment information and fill it in manually.
This tactic tends to buy me the "several minutes" that I need to talk myself out of an unnecessary purchase. . . During that process, I'm quite likely to convince myself that I don't really need the item.
It seems silly, but I know I'm certainly lazy enough to rethink a purchase if I have to actually find my credit card. They also recommend using the wish list feature instead of your shopping cart, thus giving you time to mull over the purchase instead of giving an air of finality to your shopping trip. Hit the link for more tips.
Avoiding Impulse Buying Online | The Simple Dollar
You can contact Whitson Gordon, the author of this post, at [email protected]. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and lurking around our #tips page.