A Wren Says

There was a day where my morning was especially rough. I then went on to decide that I needed to treat myself well to remind myself of my value. You know what helps with that? Skincare.

“Ooh great! Both Saks and Neiman Marcus are having a sale!” I proceeded to fill my online shopping cart with over $400 of skincare to activate the promotions. It was filled with products I was interested in trying. It was perfect timing. Or was it.

I came to my senses. My head cleared, and I thought about it more.

“You already have skincare you’re trying.”

“This promotion will happen again.”

“This skincare is not going to fix the deeper issue that led you to go shopping in the first place.”

“Really? $400? Woo child”

I share this story to start a discussion about how I shop. Maybe it will get you to think about why you do to. I know, being human, that I am prone to make decisions based on emotion. Which means, sometimes my purchases can be driven by impulse. I want to instead become a more discerning shopper.

You should of course think about how much items cost and whether it would be a good financial and lifestyle decision. However, I want to think about these things in addition to what I may be experiencing when I make the choice to go shopping. Emotions, surrounding circumstances, timing. Here are a few questions to help with that. (And my real answers from that day.)

How do you feel physically, what is happening in your body? (Are you hungry, tired, etc.)

• I was tired

How do you feel emotionally? (Upset, happy, sad, content, etc.?

• Eh, I need more emotional intelligence to come up with the right word, but I did not feel great. I can tell you that.

Are you buying it just because there is a promotion or its on sale? Is this just a scarcity mindset?

• Oooh, that promotion heavily weighed in to this decision. I wasn’t looking to get those items otherwise. I was also worried the deal would be ending soon.

What do you want this product to do for you? Think beyond the actually intended use. What do you think would happen for you as a result of acquiring this item? Is that a reasonable expectation?

• I was expecting to feel happier, to increase my personal self-esteem. That was not a reasonable expectation. Skincare can’t do that for me.

I think it is important for me to say that it is not a problem to buy nice things, and it is not a problem to buy expensive nice things. But it is a problem to buy things to fill need goods can’t fill. Taking a beat, and stopping to answer these questions interrupts the impulse purchase intention and help me think through what I am doing before I head to check out. This is just a set of questions that I will be using to help me buy the best nice things for me and for the right reasons.