Think before you buy; you’ll thank me later

That's not my shopping bag!

  Have you ever thought about useless things filling up useful spaces in our homes? I’ve bought so many things, that I never use after painfully paying for it. I have a shoe that I’m ashamed of showing others, I have a t-shirt that only Salman Khan can carry it off, I have a water bottle that cost me more than a meal at Pasta Bar Venito. I’m sure every one of us is guilty of that splurge, the urge to spend on things that we don’t actually want. Here me out, you’ll thank me later.

  We shop when we are happy. We shop when we are depressed. Often, we end up buying a pair of shoe while our intention was to help a friend to buy a pair of sock.  That’s how I bought that shameful shoe. Shopping is fun. Fun things do not last, but they are very addictive. And fun does not mean happiness. Fun is momentary, but happiness is more lasting. If something is fun long after it happened, then it is definitely happiness. Is it fun to think about the time when you bought that shoe that you never use? No it is not; shopping does not make you happy. Shopping does not take you out of depression.  May be, put you in a deeper well of depression when you stare at your bank balance. Shopping is not an antidote for depression. You keep filling space in your house, and you keep adding guilt in your heart. It is a vicious circle, you buy things for instant joy, and then lose mind every instant over that.

   Now the innovations and improvement in technology has made it even worse. You don’t even have to step out of your room to buy a room full of nonsense. You open that slick site, click on those bright buttons, make payment, and viola you have it delivered the very next day. What do you do after the delivery? You open that package, and let that object catch cobwebs. Television, billboards, salesmen and everything around us are pitching their product every second.We are bombarded with information all around us. Aishwary Rai says ‘L’Oreal ,Because we are worth it?’  And another beautiful lady insists that, ‘It is not a car. It’s a caaar?’ A red bull promises wings. And another billboard screams “Galayx S3.Designed for humans?” What does that even mean?  Well, that means you are a goat, and a scapegoat at that. You are going to buy things you don’t want and you are going pay with money that you don’t have.

 We are all rational people, how do we end up falling for such traps. How can we put an end to this? What can we do to stop this carnage from sweeping our bank balance?  What is the one question that can change all this?  Don’t you want to know how you can stop spending money on things you don’t want? It is all about dealing with a devil called Instant gratification. Let’s call him I.G. What we need is a D.I.G , Disintegration of Instant Gratification.

 Just one question before you make that decision to swipe your card. “Can I live without this product  for now?  Is it the best my hard earned money can buy me? ” That solves it. It might seem simple, but how many of us ask such a sane question on your trip to shopping mall? Your answer to that question makes the decision for you. You may not be happy to make that hard decision. But you’ll thank me later.

  Remember there is nothing called as free lunch. There is nothing called as discounts.  You are entering a dangerous zone when you see that brightly lit red discount banner. Just like a fly, you die sooner when you fly around the light. That red banner is your light.  When you have a buying decision to make, remember the fly falling down, cramped and burned by the heat of the light. You’ll thank me later.

  Another handy strategy is to avoid carrying credit cards in your wallet. Handy because, you make yourself handicapped in front of the absurd marketing campaigns. You might think that Credit cards give you freedom, of course, that is exactly what the banks want you to think.You don’t want to pay 33% interest on late payment of thing you don’t want. Remember the number thirty three when you have to make that buying decision. You’ll thank me later.

  I’m not asking you to stop enjoying your life. I’m not asking you to stop buying what you need, I’m not asking you to stop buying what you like.  I’m asking you to start smart shopping. I'm asking you to not let the world decide what YOU want. All I’m asking is to think before you buy. Let’s vouch together to buy all the things we want, but only things what we really want. You’ll be at peace. You’ll be debt free. And you’ll thank me later.