Tips
Take your pen out when going through the new JCrew catalog
When I was in college (and lived on $50 a month) I used to circle everything I wanted in the JCrew catalogs. I would shop to my heart's content -- sometimes ringing up a bill way over $1,000. I never bought anything during the exercise, but it was fun shopping. Better yet -- it was great knowing I didn't just spend way too much money.
Nowadays I may add a ton of products to my Nordstrom.com shopping cart, but I walk away. I think seeing the big price tag on a shopping SPREE allows me to do this. If I just put a few things in I might actually buy...
Shared by IAMASH on 9/29/08
I love this idea. I read about a similar exercise where if you're in the mall with no money to spend, you can pretend you have $100 in your pocket and you're supposed to go thru the mall windowing shopping how best to spend that money. You imagine you'd spend 29.99 on this thing and 9.99 on that thing ... maybe skip the little things and just drop $100 on one thing you really want.
The idea being you are shopping with your mind, imagining what it would be like to have it, take it home, wear it, eat it, play with it ... as the case may be.
It may not help the economy, but it satisfies your shopping impulse and keeps more of those hard earned buckaroos in your pocket.