6 Tips for Putting a Stop to Anxiety Shopping

1. Step away from the online order

Shopping online with your credit or debit card is so easy, especially if the card information is already registered at Amazon or another site. All you have to do is hit check out and the deal is done, often without shipping costs, so you can even tell yourself you’re saving money.

Tip: Next time you want to order online, wait a day or two before you check out unless it’s an essential item such as over-the-counter medications, vitamins or a necessary household product. You may find that a cooling-off period is all you need to hold off on buying things you don’t need.

Find out: 6 Lessons COVID-19 Teaches Us About the Value of Emergency Savings

2. Reduce your daily dose of bad news

If your newly acquired excessive shopping habit stems from a need to quell anxiety, at least for a few minutes, by purchasing shiny, new objects, it’s time to go straight to the source of daily anxiety – the nightly world news. It’s nearly impossible to feel calm or optimistic when all you see is heartbreaking stories and doom-and-gloom predictions night after night.

Tip: Cut back on TV news to one or two days a week. If someone creates a coronavirus vaccine, you’ll hear about it from someone. To stay informed without the barrage of TV news, pull up the New York Times online, which now has free access to coronavirus coverage.

Find out: A CPA's COVID-19 Diagnosis

3. Make a grocery list

It’s too easy to grab a bunch of extra items you don’t need while rolling through the grocery store if you go in without a plan. In fact, you can double your usual weekly grocery bill in no time at all by stocking up on snacks, frozen food, paper towels, and other items.

Tip: Write a list of grocery items you need after taking an inventory of what you already have on hand. Prepare your list with meals in mind so many foods can be used in more than one meal.

Find out: 9 Ways to Save Money on Groceries During the Coronavirus Crisis

4. Tally up recent online purchases

One of the best deterrents to impulse buying while worried about the state of the world is totaling up your online purchases over the last two or three months. Your shock at the total amount may be enough to cause you to go cold turkey on impulse purchases.

Tip: Now that you know how much you spent, pay off those purchases on your credit card to lower the balance.

5. Deposit the money in savings instead

What if all that money you spent while self-quarantining for two or three months was in your emergency savings instead? It’s too late to get the cashback now but never too late to pay more attention to your savings account than your Amazon account.

Tip: Next time you want to charge $50 or any amount on an online purchase, take that money and deposit it into an emergency savings account instead. It will add up fast.

6. Only buy essential items

It’s tempting to rack up credit card debt by purchasing clothes, appliances, electronics and other expensive items to make yourself feel more secure during a highly uncertain time. 

However, when the pandemic ceases and/or a coronavirus vaccine is available, you’ll want to enjoy life again, not keep on worrying because you now have a ton of credit card debt.

Tip: Ask yourself, “Do I really need this?” before adding any item to your online cart.

This article by Deb Hipp was originally published on Debt.com.