Money

For those who might not familiar with impulsive buying, it is when you were walking casually at a shopping mall and suddenly you see a pair of jeans you like. The next thing you know, you were already on your way home with the jeans.

Impulsive buying is actually not a bad thing if you have excess money and you really needed the items. But for those who were on a budget, it will ruin everything. Hence, compiled below are some of tips I would recommend to combat that budget wrecker.

1) Don’t go there
How can you spend money at a mall if you were not there in the first place. I’m not saying we should collect dust at home. I’m just saying, that if there is nothing to do, just relax at home or do other thing productive instead of window shopping at the mall.

I would define Window shopping as the process of convincing yourself that there are things to buy 🙂

2) Walk away
You’ve been dragged to the mall. It would be unwise to walk with your eyes closed. And now that you’re there be prepared to be tempted by attractive things. But when you did see something you think of buying, just physically walk away.

Make it as if your leg is being remote-controlled by another person. What I personally do is to convince myself that if after a thinking period of ONE DAY, and I still want that item, I will come back and buy it. Most of the time, by the time I’m home, I’ve already lost interest

3) Research first
I make it a rule, that anything with a price tag of 3 digit figure will require some research before buying. This especially applied for electronic items.

Go back and do some research. Check for review and complaints from other users. If the long hour researching doesn’t dampen you desire, the whining complaints will

4) Don’t go to mall after salary
There’s something about how our brain works that when we just received our paycheck, we are more compromising when it come to buying things. “I earned this”, “Money can only have value when spent” – these are some of the persuasive argument that WILL definitely comes to mind

5) No credit card
Thanks to the financial system around the world, we can actually time travel to the future and borrow money from our future us. Using your credit card is like you are receiving your paycheck everyday. The best way is to give it to your spouse. The more frugal the spouse the better 🙂

6) Minimum cash in wallet
Why do we even need to have $1000 in our wallet? Leave some at home, or better yet save it in the bank. Here’s a more cruel way. Start by only having $100 in your wallet. Maintain this for 2 months. After the 2 months, if you think $100 is definitely not enough. Increase it by $20.

7) Never talk to the sales person
These people are trained to convince you that you will die if you don’t purchase the item now. Not later.. now 🙂 No offense to the sales person reading. You are all so good, it is terrifying

Only talk to them when you know more about the product that them, which generally means.. research research research.

8] Write your dream in a paper
If you want to own a house in 2 years. Put it all in paper. If you can include the price and how much you have saved now, that would be great.

When that impulsive buying gene kicks in, take out that paper and read it out loud (not to the sales person please, that would be embarassing)

9) Video yourself advising
Now that almost all mobilephones are equipped with video camera, why not we record ourselves advising us not to give in to that desire. Make it a 1 minutes video.

I can guarantee you that after watching the video 10 times, you will no longer need the phone to watch. It will be replayed over and over in your head. Annoying but very productive (money wise)

10) Understanding marketing
Do you know why there are so much colorful junk food very near to the cashier counter? Believe me, they are all intentionally. Cashier counter is the one place in the mall where you actually spend several minutes there in line. Bored, you will be looking for something interesting to look at, and what do you know, there’s a lot of colorful junk food there 🙂

There are a lot more. And when you understand this, you will know what it is you are fighting for. Why else do you think the items used the most almost always at the end of the shop? 🙂

11) Bring someone
You must know a friend who is very frugal, in other word stingy. This friend is the most useful when you bring along to buy items. Seek advice from them on whether it is necessary to buy or not. Most of the time, they will offer their advice voluntarily. Another “Annoying but very productive” case.

12) Make it rewarding to walk away
It take a lot of effort to see an item you really like and to walk away from it. Reward this. I would recommend giving yourself $1 for everytime you succeed in walking away from impulsive buying. The reward money is a no-guilt money, meaning you can buy anything you want with that money. No question asked.

– I wonder –
Do you have any other tips to combat impulsive buying? Please share

———- Personal Note ———-
There’s a very fine line between being stingy and frugal. It is in my opinion that stingy is when that expenditure is obligatory and still you want to avoid it. A stingy man will not repair his car seat belt in the name of being frugal. While a frugal man will not tolerate safety. He will try to save from other mean.

Suddenly I remembered the classic movie of Haji Bakhil Bin Lebai Kedekut 🙂


Don't want to miss a single tip? Get updates via RSS (Full) or Email

Appreciated action : |Leave A Comment (14)

Welcome

19 Feb Filed under : Personal No comment

First and foremost, I would like to welcome new readers from Skorcareer.com. You can find more information about this blog at the about page. Generally, this daily updated blog covers quite a wide aspect of life with career related ideas as one of them.

A better way to figure this blog out is by reading through some of career’s best articles

If you like what you read, feel free to subscribe to the blog for future content via RSS or email


Don't want to miss a single tip? Get updates via RSS (Full) or Email

Appreciated action : |Leave A Comment (0)

interview

Summary – 3 interview lessons learnt from working temporary

As previously mentioned in my post on mindset needed to survive job hunting, just after I finished my study, I worked as a customer service assistant at a department store in Kuala Lumpur. Generally my task involved assisting customer’s query and complaints, help in membership registration, wedding gift registry and most importantly, wrapping present. 🙂

The work was very rewarding, and in a way had helped me greatly in my quest for job hunting. In fact it helped me a lot in my coming interview. Here’s how :

1) Interview = Communicate = English
There’s no way you can sell a product just by pointing, smile and giving a thumbs up. You need to speak comprehensible and confident English. Please notice that I didn’t use the word fluent and good English 🙂 I can testify that out of the years of learning English, these periods were the time I improved the most.

2) Know the product in and out
In my line of work (at the time), I need to know how to differentiate between red wine glass and a goblet. I need to know how to point out the reason why some bedsheet are expensive and some don’t. In general, I need to know how to sell everything there.

Let say I’m selling the expensive bedsheet, and the customer ask why is it more expensive than the other one. If all I can say is, “I’m not so sure”. Do you think the customer will buy it?

The same with interview, everyone is trying to sell themselves. They say that they are more special than the others. But when asked, they usually don’t know how to describe their strength.

Tip : Try to describe your strength with respect to what you can offer to the company, and not just by saying that you are this and that.

3) Don’t sell the wrong thing
When potential customer call me and ask for some information on a product, I was advised by my manager to avoid persuading them to buy. All I need to do is to provide all the information needed and help him in any way I can.

Most of the time, the customer will buy the product, simply because he is impressed by the attention given.

Similarly in an interview, the interviewer usually have read your resume and they were already impressed. The interview is just their way to see your attitude, confidence and passion for the job. Highlight these as often as you can. No need to worry about technical knowledge or your present perfect tense.

When they’ve already like you, the job is practically yours.

– I Wonder –
Any interesting stories on your experience undergoing interview? Please share

———- Personal Note ———
One of the thing I love the most about my job then is wrapping gift. I learnt there the actual art of wrapping gift. I really take pride of the work done.

Anybody want their gift wrapped? 🙂


Don't want to miss a single tip? Get updates via RSS (Full) or Email

Appreciated action : |Leave A Comment (2)

dolphin

Summary – 2 steps to turn your dream to your side

Nothing is more relaxing than a good night sleep, don’t you agree? However, such sleep can be disrupted if you are constantly having nightmare. You will not be able to get enough rest and ultimately will affect your work / study.

Previously I have presented my theory on why we have nightmare. I would like to continue from that as to how to rid of nightmare and maybe deliberately dream a sweet dream 🙂

1) Respect your dream
From now on, have some respect to the dream you have. Even though it was a very ridiculous dream of you riding a dolphin to the moon. How to respect it? by trying your very best to remember each dream you have.

Have a notebook and a pen by your bed every night. I would recommend a bright color notebook so that when you wakes up, you will not be able to miss it. Always try to jot down any details of your dream, even though you may end up with only the word – “Dolphin”.

My theory is, when we have made a conscious attempt to remember the dream, our subconcious mind will follow up by producing a more meaningful and “make-sense” dream. Over time, you will notice that there are no more ridiculous dream. And the dream you have can actually be a mirror of your subconciousness

2) Ask question
Whether you want to believe it or not, there is such thing as your subconcious mind. Have you ever had a problem, and you think very hard before you go to sleep, and tomorrow out of no where you can see the solution clearly. That’s subconcious mind in action. Now let’s use that untapped resource.

Before you go to bed, ask question to yourself. Not just by reading a paragraph from a book, but really try to figure the problem out in your head. Do it about 5 minutes, set an alarm if you must, but after that 5 minutes, stop thinking about the problem. This is crucial, as we don’t want you to stay awake all night thinking. It will be very very off topic then 🙂

The problem can varies from your relationship problem, to the “how star was created” kind of problem. The answer may not be as clear as black and white, but with some practice, you will be able to use that incredible resource of yours. The answer may come in the form of dream or you will just know the answer to it naturally. Trust me on this 🙂

– I Wonder –
What’s your weirdest dream you have so far? I’m in the mood of interpreting dream now hehe (just for fun)

———- Personal Note ————
My weirdest dream so far is the one with numbers. I apparently was given a number and I must figure out the square root of it in my head. Nothing extraordinary right? But in my dream, I am not seeing the number, I can actually see millions of particles representing the number. Things will usually get more tense, and I will usually wakes up with that problem in my head.

Usually it is a sign that I will be down with fever the next day. In the case you’re wondering, I consider such dream as nightmare 🙂

Photo credit – kalandrakas


Don't want to miss a single tip? Get updates via RSS (Full) or Email

Appreciated action : |Leave A Comment (10)
banji Read LessonInLife.com In Your Email

Please enter your email address
    Unconventional Guides
    Advertise here
    Handbook for Life
RECENT READERS