One of the three steps in my SUM 180 plan was to increase my rainy day fund. I don’t think of myself as a shopper, but then I took a closer look at my bills. I reviewed my PayPal statement and saw a lot of Etsy purchases. I looked at my sewing table and noticed that I had enough fabric to fuel years of sewing projects.
I realized that there was too much temptation in my in box. There are so many places to spend money online and I was inviting all those shops to entice me via email.
These weekly and sometimes daily emails were a double whammy. I would spend too much time browsing all the new stuff and the sale stuff, and then I would spend money on stuff I didn’t need.
Unsubscribing from the emails removed the temptation to browse and broke this unhealthy spending habit.
At first you may be worried that you’ll miss some big sale, and the opportunity to buy something you actually need (black pants or new sandals). What you should be worried about is being seduced by something at full price that you don’t need, due to a beautiful picture in an email.
If you really do need something and hate to miss out on a discount, use this trick. Before you buy an item, sign up for the site’s newsletter and you can often get 10% off. The key is to remember to unsubscribe then next time you are tempted to click on something offered in that newsletter that got you the discount.
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