Mindset Changes That Help Me To Shop Less

I‘m pretty sure that some of you guys are convinced that I’m a shopaholic. I mean, if you have seen my hauls or even realised that all of the products I review are bought by myself you just must think that I’m a little bit nuts. However, since I’m getting older and need to save money for more important things I’m trying to shop less and save more. As someone who indeed really loves to shop, maybe even to the extend of a shopaholic, that ain’t easy. In today’s post I’m going to share some of the mindset changes or things I say to myself that really help me to shop less. So, if you’re interested in reading about some tips to maybe even help you to shop less too, make sure you continue reading this post!

You don’t need everything you think is pretty

I’m someone, or used to be someone, who thought I needed everything that I really loved.  You know that moment when you see an item in a store, whether it’s a piece of makeup or a clothing item, and you are just completely head over heels with it. In those cases I always think “Oh my, I NEED that”. I almost convince myself that I can’t live without it. When typing these things out I do start to realise more and more that I’m a little bit crazy. But that’s besides the point. In those cases I like to remind myself that I don’t NEED everything that I think is pretty. It’s okay to miss out on things and not have every piece you love. If you’d be buying everything you love, you will end up with way too much stuff if you’re like me and you easily fall in love with things.

Another thing that kind of relates to this is not to buy things that you don’t love. If you, for example, can only buy 3 things a month and you buy one thing that you aren’t absolutely in love and head over heels crazy about. That’s a waste of your 3 item limit. So decide wisely on what to get when you’re getting it. If it’s nice but not completely amazing, skip it. It’s not worthy of your time.

Be critical

With that being said I like to be way more critical these days. Whenever I see a piece that I think I might be in love with, I’m not just bluntly buying it anymore. I have had days where, even if it wasn’t in my size or didn’t fit perfectly, I’d buy it anyways because ‘oh my god it’s so pretty!!!!’. And guess what, I’ve never worn those pieces. Even though I thought they were stunning, I never have days where I feel like wearing something that doesn’t fit perfectly. So, even if you love something be strict. If it even has one slight flaw to it, it’s a no-go. You can love it, you can think it’s pretty. But who is going to wear something ill fitting. Or even something uncomfortable.

Look at what you have

Something that also really helps me is to just take a good look at what I have. Not because I want to make new combinations or think I don’t have anything. But to realise that I also have so much stuff and that it’s completely unnecessary to buy even more. Who on earth needs 40 sweaters and 20 jeans. I know I don’t. I know that this might not work for everybody. But for me it works for at least a couple of days. So if I do this everyday it does in the end help me to realise that it’s not needed.

No buy months

Another thing that helped me is doing no-buy months. And this isn’t just about not shopping, it’s also about really experiencing that your life is just as great without shopping all of the time. I know sometimes they can be hard, but I’m very competetive and I don’t like to fail on my own challenges, so I do usually stick to them. When you’re doing a no-buy it might also happen that something is on sale that you want to buy. Well guess what, you can’t right now and that’s okay. Things go in and out of sale so often. It might not even be that great of a deal or that amazing of an item.

And that brings me to the point that you have to look past the sale. Sometimes I tend to be sale-blind and buy things that I’d normally never buy because they are just not my thing. I’m just not going to wear them. And this has happened an awful lot with me. So even if it’s like 80% off and from a very expensive brand, be real with yourself. Is it something you’d have bought or at least wanted if it weren’t on sale? No? Then goodbye to that. It ain’t happening.

Think about the long term goal

My last tip is to think about your goals in life. Not shopping is about not being so materialistic for me, but also about saving money for more important things. Thinking about them while feeling the urge to buy something really helps me out a lot. At moments when I’m about to purchase something unnecessary I just think about the fact that those 20 bucks could’ve been part of my future car or my future Kitchenaid. And you can only spend it once, so do it wisely. It might sound really silly, but for me it helps a lot!

And that sums up today’s post. I’m very aware of the fact that I might come across as a huge shopaholic now with a real, serious problem. But I promise you, I’m doing fine and I’m not sick or anything like that. I just hope that these tips were helpful to you in any way and be sure to let me know what your tips are to shop less!

Images from Stylestock.co