Often times, you decide to go shopping and you do not make an explicit decision of what exactly you want to buy due to varying needs that might interest you. Some of such times, you end up buying what you will eventually not use. The state of world economy does not give room for wastage of this sort, it is therefore expedient that precautions be taken to minimize waste and shop rightly. These practices will probably help you to achieve this.

Make a budget

Depending on what you intend to buy, making a budget can either come first in your preparation for shopping or it may come as the second step. Making a budget helps you to ensure that you do not overspend. You definitely have a lot of needs or perhaps wants that you would want met, but your budget will help you to make a reasonable decision based on your income, or your wallet.

Make a list of items needed

Just like your budget, your list of items needed can either come first or second. For example, if you just decide to stock your wardrobe with new wears, you should have a budget first, so you can make your list within the budget based on the price of each wear. However, you should make a list before a budget when you are buying foodstuff or groceries for a new recipe you’re trying to prepare. Making a list limits your chances of impulsive buying.

Order your list on the basis of importance

This is a normal requirement in economics. Your list should be in form of a scale of preference, having the most important items on top and the less important items below. For example, on your shopping list, you should have your children’s school books and bags above video games as the school books are more important to them than leisure items.

Take less cash / do not go with your credit card

This is a two-in-one point and it applies to people differently. The aim is to avoid impulsive purchase. You probably did not plan to buy a gown in your shopping but you see a brightly coloured white gown with red roses designed all over it. You could not resist the temptation to buy it but when you reach to hand over your credit card to purchase it, you remember that you did not take it along. This saves you that extra spending. For some, their impulsive spending urge is dependent on how much cash they are carrying. Having extra cash in that scenario encourages unnecessary / unplanned spending.

This post is my entry to the Day 3 of the Challenge 30 days organized by @dragosroua. To join this challenge, please click on the link to see the guidelines. I hope this helps you to keep up engagement on the blockchain. See you again tomorrow.