One instant budget breaker is impulse buying. Stores create displays that are so enticing it's hard to resist wandering over to them and buying something that is most definitely not on the shopping list. Spontaneous shopping is seldom a good choice.
The 24/7 rule helps me resist impulse buying and spontaneous decision making. If something catches my eye that is not on my shopping list or not an item I have an immediate need for, I wait at least 24 hours before returning to the store to purchase the item. If it's a high priced item, I wait seven days before returning to get it. Chances are, if I haven't needed that item in those 7 days, I really don't need to purchase it.
As for the smaller items that I put on a 24 hour delay, most often they were strictly impulse items, some of which I forgot about shortly after leaving the store. The 24/7 rule has definitely helped prevent me from impulse buys that could have damaged my budget.
By VeronicaHB from Asheboro, NC
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This is an excellent tip! I've been doing this for years. It's saved me unknown amounts of money over the years.
Here's another thing I do that's along the same lines. When I go shopping I take a list. I buy ONLY what's on my list, nothing extra. If I see something else that I need or want, I write it on the list. I do not buy it.
If, by the next time I go shopping I still want or need that item, then I add it to my shopping list to be bought on that trip. Many times I didn't want it bad enough to remember it, so it doesn't get added, so doesn't get bought, which saves that amount of money.
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