Wait... you can get it if you still want it later.

You want it... but can you wait for it before you consume it? The Habit of Waiting to Spend is a key habit to develop to help you break impulse buying as a habit. The Habit of Impulse Purchasing is spending to consume because you feel like it, want it, can afford or deserve it, and it can easily lead to you breaking the bank! For me, developing the Habit of Waiting to Spend has been a great way of regulating my emotional desire for something immediately, and realizing that I can wait till I am ready to use it properly, need it for a purpose, or more often than not, that I didn't really want it enough to spend my hard-earned money on.

Have you ever bought something on Amazon or as you're passing a shop, flashed the credit card, got the hit of pleasure, and then by the time you got it home realized, 'I actually didn't even want this. Gah.' The dopamine hit has worn off, and reality is beginning to sink in.

The 'marshmallow test', originally performed by Walter Mischel at Stanford, or the ability to delay gratification to "sit patiently in the hope that our reward will be worth it", is important from a spending perspective.

Here's the habit. When you really want a consumer item (e.g., a new book), feel that you have to buy now or you'll lose the 'deal' (e.g., car or windows), or purchase for your emotions ('retail therapy'), pause, take a breath, save it, and come back later. Wait a few days, or week. That way you'll actually realize if you want and need it or not. If you're really wanting to test yourself, try 30 days like this Redditer!

The first 5-10 times will feel hard, but that emotional pull to click 'Buy now!' will pass. You can live without out.

Here are real ways I use the Habit of Waiting to Spend.

• Adding something to the Amazon cart or other online shopping cart, and waiting a week before you click on 'Checkout'. Now I put something in the cart, I typically wait at least a week. Sometimes I forget stuff is there!

• Wanting a haircut and even though I could use it, I waited till the end of the week. I really wanted it then!

• Wanting to go shop at Target! Really want to, and I do need to go to buy house stuff, but chose not to. I can hold out for a bit!

• At Home Depot, I wanted the grinding discs for a home project and they didn't have the exact grit I wanted. But I waited and came back a few days later when they had the right one.

  
  

Why do you want it right now? What will this purchase facilitate or make you feel right now? Is this a real need or a desire and want? Ask these types of questions. By delaying gratification, many times your budget will thank you and you'll spend consciously when you actually need and want something. The Habit of Waiting to Spend is not about cutting spending altogether, just waiting till the emotional charge wears off.

The Habit of Waiting to Spend is key to increasing the time between the thoughts and feelings, to the action of purchasing and spending money on things. Wait, you probably won't want it later.

To your success.