Avoid the impulse buy

Tempted by impulse purchases?  Many small purchases, including those small items you add at the end of your shopping trip, add up, and add up quickly.  There are simple ways to avoid this.  One of course, is limit the number of times you go shopping - you’ll be less tempted to buy on impulse.  But beyond that, I use two strategies to avoid paying extra for things you grab at the register, like gum and magazines:

Magazine subscriptions are far cheaper than paying the cover price - in fact you’ll probably make up the price in about 4 purchases.  For example, a subscription to Canadian Living costs between $15 and $25, depending on the deal you score.  But a single copy costs $3.99, so you end up paying at least double the cost.  I used to think that I was saving by not buying a subscription, because I figured that I was not buying enough magazines to make it worth it.  But with Canadian Living, you only need to buy 4 issues before the subscription becomes a better deal.

If you regularly buy gum at the register, you’ll end up paying about $1.50 a pack but if you buy gum in a family sized pack you’ll probably spend somewhere in the vicinity of 75¢ a pack.

Know you’re impulses and find ways to avoid feeding them, or satiate them by planning ahead and making these purchases ahead of time!