How To Shop Smart By Xavier Ramirez

Xavier Ramirez is a Sundried personal trainer ambassador. He shares with us his tips to shop smart and how to avoid making purchases you'll regret.

Winter is just around the corner

The days are getting shorter, the nights are getting colder, and it probably won't be long before you start to feel that the summer is a distant memory. As the nights draw in, it's tempting to get comfortable indoors and make irrational purchases on internet shopping. 

I’d like to share with you a few tips that I’ve learned to keep me on the happier side of being a consumer.

1. Buy less, research more

Researching what you want will really make you think through your purchase. When you’ve given what you want a lot consideration, this will ultimately enhance the pleasure of actually owning your new possession and using it. 

2. If you can't afford it, save up

This is probably the hardest rule. In today’s world of instant gratification and an abundance of available credit, it’s so tempting to buy things before we can afford them. However, the downside of this is that often the pleasure of our new purchase wears off long before we’ve finished paying for it. By reversing this and saving up first we can achieve three things:

1. It ensures we really want whatever it is we’ve set our hearts upon.
2. It allows us time to imagine owning and using the new purchase which helps to build up our anticipation and increases the eventual pleasure when we finally make the purchase.
3. You can feel proud of yourself- this may sound silly but each time I’ve done this, I’ve felt proud of myself for planning ahead and being patient rather than making a rash choice and increasing my debt levels by putting whatever it is on a credit card.

3. Enjoy the wait

Now you have put extra time into choosing, and maybe saving, you can start to anticipate its arrival!

We are so used to getting what we want instantly that we lose the pleasure of anticipation - wouldn’t it be good to really look forward to what you have carefully chosen and saved for?

I think this only serves to increase the worth of the item to you in the long term, while feeling your excitement in the short term!

4. Read reviews

Even for the entertainment value alone, reviews are worthwhile. You can build up a great picture of a product by balancing out the extremes and reading enough reviews, then you can buy the product and see how good you were at predicting your experience.