Spending and Saving

Save Money with the 30-Minute Rule

The 30-Minute Rule has nothing to do with eating food off the floor.

It’s a way to keep your spending in check by curbing impulse shopping — especially important as some of us are starting to feel flush again.

Maybe you’ve just found a job after months of unemployment. Maybe you just feel like the economy is starting to wobble towards a recovery. It’s hard not to unleash all that pent-up desire to buy. But over-spending is not a habit we want to return to as a society.

The 30-Minute Rule is ridiculously simple. When you see something you just have to have, wait a half-hour before you buy it.(A day is even better, but we’re taking baby steps here.)

If you’re shopping online, walk away from the computer. Wash dishes. Go outside, for God’s sake. If you’re in a store, say you’ll come back later Grab a bite. Go hunt down whatever it was you came looking for in the first place.

Chances are that feeling of need will pass. And that doesn’t save you the money you would have spent on that one item–it keeps you from buying more, since researchers have found that shopping leads to more shopping.

Tags: advice, new frugal, shopping, spending, Spending and Saving