How To Save Money By Changing Your Shopping Environment

I regularly preach a mantra of putting aside money for savings (for an emergency or for long-term goals like trips, college fund, or retirement). I don’t think there is any disagreement that saving is a good idea. The problem, though, is where to find money for savings. Too often when there is money in an account or in the pocket, it is spent.

Sometimes finding ways to decrease spending is as easy as making a change in the spending environment. Here are a number of simple changes that can result in spending less.

Use Cash Rather Than Credit Cards

There have been several studies that conclude that using credit cards rather than cash will result in higher spending. My first impression is that this makes sense because one tends to use credit cards for higher dollar purchases rather than cash. However, a University of Utah study showed that using a credit card triggers the dopamine center in the brain so it isn’t just the amount of the purchase. Putting the credit card away and using cash to spend on purchases can reduce overall spending.

Do The Grocery Shopping On A Full Stomach

This is perhaps obvious, but slipping out to shop at the beginning of the lunch break, or grocery shopping on the way home from work isn’t going to be the best time to save money. It is too tempting, when the stomach is growling, to just add a few more goodies into the cart.

Instead, doing the grocery shopping after dinner or lunch will keep the temptations for “extras” at bay. Make a shopping list ahead of time and stick to it. Lest this sounds too draconian, it’s okay to have a small budgeted amount for a self-gift that isn’t on the list. One local grocery chain in my area even provides live acoustic music in a store each Friday evening as an encouragement to do the shopping during this low-traffic time. Save money and enjoy some good live music!

Leave The Kids At Home

Again, this one might be obvious to parents, but when kids are along at the grocery store or retail stores, they are marketers of the first order. Perhaps it is a placation, or perhaps it is guilt shopping, but having children along while shopping results in more purchases than when just focused on the shopping list.

Depending upon the self-control when shopping with children, it is possible that hiring a babysitter might actually be less expensive than bringing children with you to the store. Plus, there is also the fact that shopping without children removes them as a distraction, so you’ll finish faster.

Don’t Shop Under The Influence

Another environmental change that can reduce spending is not to have alcohol in your system while shopping. I have personally seen my friends tip way more when at a happy hour than they typically do for a group lunch. And they would often buy drinks for their friends as well as themselves.

Shopping while drunk is detriment to finances, and a survey found that nearly 4 in 5 people reported that they had purchased items while drunk. They spent an average of almost $450 on those drunk purchases. Clothing and shoes were the most common items purchased. If necessary, have a “designated driver” and give that person the credit cards before drinking. Or just make sure to shop sober.

We often think of finding money for savings to be a hard task of scrutinizing all of our expenses and cutting back on the things we get satisfaction from. But finding money for savings can be as easy as making a few environmental changes when shopping.