Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Supermarkets and Plastic Money - Lethal combination!

For any activity planning is important. In my childhood days, I have seen many women in my neighborhood preparing the list of household items to be purchased for the month, and the budget that will be required for getting those items (with more than 95% accuracy). The items in the list, would be typically of absolute need, and very rarely (On special occasions, where extra bonus income has come) exceptional items would find their way to the list. And also those were the days, only small grocery shops were available, and finding a supermarket was a rarity.

However these days, as both men and women are working, and as everybody is busy with something, it has become extremely painful to do such meticulous planning, and most of them enter the modern malls or supermarkets typically to get the absolute essentials, but endup buying a lot more than that is required.

The main reason for this is the lack of planning - in not only the list of items to be purchased, but also the amount of money to be carried for buying those items. The availability of Cards - Credit or Debit has made the later possible. So, one could forfeit all the planning processes, and would walk into a modern mall and pick up the things that tempts him/her.

Added to this the free credit period, that one would get to repay the amount - in case of credit card, and also the other temptations such as bonus points, discount coupons, and so on ... would easily make a person, jump out of the line. As if this is not sufficient, the malls attract you with lot of advertisements - claiming to be give goods in a "never-before offer!" at mouth-watering prices.

Suppose, if you had been doing shopping with all the above temptations, and if you had time by your side in the mall - then it's going to be even more lethal for your money - because one gets easily spoilt for choices and also want to get the best - meaning highest priced one, unless otherwise, you have a very definite taste or pick for a particular product.

A psychological factor can also be added to the above recipe - "the joy of discovery". Typically as the items are scattered across the store, you end up searching and browsing for your required items, and once you get to your favorite item, you feel a sense of discovery, that will urge you to discover more - which leads you to discovering more and more items, that you would have never bought in the first place. However, this factor plays out only if you have sufficient time for spending in the mall/store.

So, the only solution, is to plan well in advance, - of what you want to buy, and a rough estimate of the amount that would be needed, before you step in into the stores.

If you like it, Share it

Share |