Impulse Purchase – 7 Ways To Cut Impulse Grocery Purchases
Tempted by another impulse purchase? Here are 7 ways to cut down impulse grocery purchases and stop wasting money on crap.
Let’s chat about impulse purchases.
Have you noticed lately that your grocery bill is going up?
I know I have!
Once upon a time I could pull off a massive weekly food shop for just $100AUD ($75US) when I was focused on making fruit and vegetables my biggest priority and skipped the junky stuff.
But the moment you start throwing a few new things into your basket or trolley (and these things come in packets – even though they insist they are healthy choices) the final tally at the cash register can easily be doubled.
This is something I noted and I immediately nipped in the bud because even though the cost of food may be rising, a lot of our growing grocery store costs come down to making impulsive purchases.
When does this usually happen?
I’ll tell you when…
If you shop when you’re lacking energy, hungry, or in a hurry, chances are good you sometimes make hasty decisions about food.
After getting home from the store, if you’ve ever said, “Now why did I get that?” these tips are for you:
IMPULSE PURCHASE ADVICE
# 1 – Keep a pad of paper and pen in the kitchen.
When you notice you’re getting low on something you use regularly, write it on the list.
- If you’re tech-oriented, enter those items into your smart phones so you’ll have them with you the next time you go to the store (I like to use my Notes app on my iPhone which is simple yet effective).
- Think about food products you don’t use much or that your family doesn’t want to eat anymore. Not sure what this includes? Take a look inside your pantry to see the food items that you and your family are avoiding (for me this includes rice crackers, rice cakes and brown rice – mmm…I’m noticing a theme here!) Consider excluding these items from your store list.
- Before you leave home to go grocery shopping, double-check for any items you may need but haven’t yet listed. Add those to your list. Sometimes we get into trouble spending more on groceries than we need to when we go back to get one more thing (you and I both know it is never ONE more thing).
IMPULSE PURCHASE ADVICE
# 2 – Allow a reasonable amount of time to grocery-shop.
Having ample time to shop means you’re more likely to cut down on hurrying through the store and grabbing whatever food product strikes your fancy at the moment.
When you take your time, you can make the right choices, do some comparison shopping and put thing BACK onto the shelf, if they made it inside your trolley on a whim.
IMPULSE PURCHASE ADVICE
# 3 – Make a real effort to avoid processed food.
Yeah this is pretty basic smart grocery shopping technique #1.
Food items in boxes, bags, or cans usually have additives and other unhealthy ingredients. You can safely forget about adding these to your trolley.
- If you “think healthy” at the store, you’ll most likely save yourself from picking up all those processed, packaged foods.
- Another good tip is to skim the perimeters of the grocery store and skip the middle. The perimeter usually has the bread, dairy, meats, fish, fresh fruit and vegetables.
- The middle aisles on the contrary are usually devoted to soda, biscuits, crisps etc. Each of those get categories gets their own aisle here in Sydney!
IMPULSE PURCHASE ADVICE
# 4 – Stick to the store list.
Now that you’ve made a list of everything you need, purchase only items you’ve listed.
I know it’s tempting to go beyond the list if you get distracted with all the so-called goodies that are on sale.
But if you stick to your list, you will stick to your budget and not bring temptations (that you know you will most likely just eat late at night) into your home.
- If sticking 100% to the list is difficult, consider allowing yourself just one or two foods not included on your store list.
- Think about those items carefully to ensure they’re worth the price and that you can use them in preparing healthy meals or snacks for your family.
IMPULSE PURCHASE ADVICE
# 5 – Eat a meal before you go grocery shopping.
An old grocery-shopping rule is, “Never go grocery shopping when you’re hungry.”
Let me just say: bacon and cheese scrolls look mighty tempting when you are hungry!
- It’s no secret that people tend to spend more when they’re feeling starved while shopping. A bag of chips here, a candy bar there, and you just bumped your grocery bill a few dollars.
IMPULSE PURCHASE ADVICE
# 6 – Establish a budgeted amount of money you plan to spend at the grocery store.
- Let’s say you don’t want to exceed $75 per week on food. While you’re at the checkout counter, the store staff tells you your bill is $79. What can you do?
- Quickly look over your food items. Ask yourself what you can do without. See if there are snack items you don’t really need. Make a concerted effort to reduce the total to $75.00, as you planned.
- Then, when you get home, consider whether you need to raise your budgeted amount to spend on your next trip to the store. You might conclude you didn’t really need the items you put back.
- Or you may realize that $75 just isn’t enough to meet your needs and you should raise your budget a little. Do what works best for you, your family and your budget.
IMPULSE PURCHASE ADVICE
# 7 – Pat yourself on the back for the planning you did to avoid impulsive purchases at the grocery store.
If you made it home without giving in to any impulse purchases, you should be really proud of yourself.
It takes focus, discipline and real effort and those are great qualities to have.
Hopefully you realize now that with just a few changes you too can end impulsive purchases at the grocery store (at least that’s the goal!)
Cutting down on your impulsive purchases at the grocery store is entirely possible.
It really is!
Plus with some advance planning and the use of these tips, you’ll reduce not only overall grocery store spending but also increase your health by ditching the junk food purchases.
Don’t ever forget: your health is your greatest wealth.
And when you are successful in reaching your shopping goals (without succumbing to impulse shopping) you will have more money and better health to show for it.
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Before You Go…
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I’m Frances Vidakovic – a mindset & action coach for quietly ambitious women who want to stop overthinking and finally take aligned action. I help women achieve their goals and follow through on what matters, without sacrificing their sanity or soul.