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There's An Incredibly Simple Way To Curb Impulse Shopping
The secret may very well be in your email inbox.
I'm no stranger to shopaholicsm, but I figured I'd be "safe" from relapse if I could only steer clear of bricks-and-mortar shops.
Instead, I decided to sign up for a few choice email lists with my favorite stores. My reasoning was simple: I would only shop if a great deal came through and I'd still avoid splurging on full-price fare.
What I didn't predict was how many sales retailers promote by email. I must get a new ad from the Gap and all its affiliates at least once per day and my newfound frenemy Ebates.com has lured me to shop more than I have in months thanks to its super exclusive "Double cash back rewards" offers that strangely appear multiple times a week.
I'm not alone. A new study by ExactTarget found more than two-thirds of Americans shopping online are baited with email first – nearly twice the rate brought in from Facebook and text messages.
It makes sense why we're partial to the email route. It's easy enough to mark messages as spam and ignore ones we don't feel like reading straightaway. But for a reformed shopaholic like myself, email is basically the gateway drug to overspending.
Finally, enough was enough. I unsubscribed from every list I could find – including all those group deals sites – and I'm back on track.
When the time comes that I actually need to shop, I'll prowl CouponSherpa.com or Retailmenot.com for discount codes first and check to see if Ebates has a cashback offer available. I rarely turn up empty-handed.
If you want to curb your impulse spending, follow my lead.
Now see how I used Manilla to kick my paper bill addiction >
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