How to Prevent Mindless Holiday Shopping!

It is very hard to avoid buying for ourselves during the holidays. You are inundated with coupons in your email, mailbox at the actually stores themselves and even worse, upon check out when you already bought something enticing you to come back and spend more. Seriously?!

In order to get your holiday shopping done for your friends and family and ward off unneeded spending and shopping, I have gathered some tips to help with mindless shopping this season.

• Make a list and stick to it. Figure out who you need to buy for and what you plan on getting them.
• Set up a budget for yourself. Determine how much you are spending on who and stick to it.
• Use cash! If you use only the cash you are allowing yourself to spend, you will prevent the oh so easy credit card charges. Besides, using a credit card is sometimes cloudy because you are just taking it out and using it not seeing the money being spent until that January statement comes in and knocks you to the floor. 
• Forgo the shopping cart. Seems silly but the more you can put in your cart, the more you will spend. Figure out what stores you are going into and specifically for what and carry out what you need. 
  
• Go only in the stores you need to. It is tempting to see the sale signs and walk right in. Yes, DSW is nice, but who is asking for shoes for Christmas? Oh you are!!! Exactly. Go only into the stores you know you need to purchase something. 
• Get an accountability partner! Go shopping with a buddy. Let them know about your shopping budget and list and have them keep you on track during your shopping excursion. Besides, shopping with someone (even if for others) is fun with a friend.
• Shop online. This MAY be easier if you do not have to go into stores. But buyers beware! This can easily be another trap to set you up to shop mindlessly. For me, I find it easier. I look for what I need put it in the cart and I am done. For others this is hard. If you are going to shop online, do it as a guest. Do not save your shipping address, credit card information or items in your wish list. This way it is not as easy for you to mindless click your shopping heart away. 

I hope some of these tips you can take away and implement this season. Besides. No one wants to start off January in the red or with and overabundance of "things" that felt good at the time of purchase but end up being mindless purchases. 

What tips do you use to keep mindless shopping at bay?