Avoid shopping when tired or hungry.  When you are tired, you'll buy anything to "get through and go home." You may have to make another trip to the store for forgotten items. If hungry, you'll probably overbuy, especially prepared foods. Eating before going shopping not only helps prevent impulse buys, it may save calories. If you’re shopping with your kids, feed them in advance, as well.


Shop weekly or less often.  Plan your shopping so that you can buy groceries for at least a week or two. You spend more money if you go to the store several times during the week.

By reducing the frequency of your trips, you’re saving money on overhead (time and fuel). Also, consider walking or biking to the store. If that's not practical, substitute a basket for a grocery cart. By walking or biking to the store or not using a cart in the store, you can automatically limit your spending by restricting yourself to space for only one shopping bag full of groceries. Once you are very conscious of each purchase, it seems to carry over even to the small items where space isn’t really an issue.


Pay attention to your list and don’t interact with things you don’t need.  Research shows that the longer you are in a store, the more you interact with something, and the more likely you are to buy it. Most unplanned purchases come as a result of the shopper seeing, touching, smelling, or tasting something that promises pleasure, if not total fulfillment. It only takes a few seconds of idly staring at an attractive Chips Ahoy! aisle display to convince you to buy them.

Over half of all grocery purchasing decisions are made at the store. The more times you go the more chances there are that you will impulse buy. If the only item you really need is milk, consider a convenience store even if it costs 30 to 50 cents more.


Tips for avoiding impulse buys:

• Stay focused. Go down only the aisles where you can find foods on your list.
• To avoid impulse buying try to stay out of grocery stores as much as possible.
• Creating a shopping list and sticking to it will reduce your costs by eliminating impulse buying.
• Designate the job of grocery shopping to the least impulsive consumer in your family.

Shop alone if possible.  When your mate or children go shopping with you, the total bill generally increases. Children often pressure parents to buy items advertised on television or that they see and want. This can cause unplanned spending. If you shop with children, help them learn to be good shoppers, too. They could help select an item or two on the list, such as an unsweetened cereal, or a fruit or vegetable for family meals or snacks.

Shop when stores aren't crowded.  If possible, avoid peak crowded times such as Friday afternoon and Saturday. Crowded stores take more time to get through, you spend more time weaving your way through and you can’t concentrate as well.