It might help when you are fighting the urge to purchase to ask yourself the following:

Is this a “need” or a “want”?

If you aren’t going to starve or suffer without it, you can live without it. Put it back on the shelf and walk away.

FLIP SIDE- sometimes when I’m traveling is my only time to shop for things I do need. If it is on my “need list” and the price is in the range I have set for it – and I have room in my luggage – I’ll buy it. In terms of time savings, buying it now, rather than having to look again, means that if it is in the range, (even if not at 75% off), I can cross off that pair of (insert hard to find item never found in my size and in the color I want). Going home, dragging myself to the mall, parking, gas, time, and wasted effort – buy it now, get rid of the item on the list that is plaguing me (no, I can’t wear that pair of black pants one more season with that fading and worn look).

Having the “need list” helps also, because if you are having peer pressure, you can say “I’m looking specifically for…. but they don’t have it.”
Any purpose is useful… “Hmm…I have a green blazer like that – I’d like to see how they are accessorizing it this season.” (quite true – one I bought at Goodwill turned up at Nordies, matched with items I wouldn’t have thought of … score to get that info).

HTH.

I have pretty much stop buying souvenirs when I travel after moving and throwing away small things I have acquired in my travel. It adds to my clutter and only collects dust. But I have a friend who recently went to Orlando and brought me a Disney shirt and cap. She did not just buy a set for me, but one for everyone in our regular social group (8 people!). I really like the idea that she is thinking of me, but I really do not know what to do with the stuff. The shirt is over sized, you can make two shirts from that shirt for me. And there is no way I am going to wear a cap with Jonny Depp on it in public. So the nice Disney stuff is still in the giftbox in my closet.

I find that making a list of what I might want on the way there helps tremendously. I still use a mug I bought on a trip to Seattle 15 years ago. It goes from the microwave to the freezer.

Thanks for the wonderful content,
Melanie

I got a 12″ Shun chef’s knife for my son for Christmas, and paid about $170 from knifemerchant online (I’ve bought there happily over the years: you can talk with real people!)the 8″ version was $298 at my local W-S.
And W-S did offer me a job running classes, etc. but a combination of $8/hour (in the northeast yet) and a 40% discount looked to me like a net loss of my time (thanks for the calculation nudge, Trent!)
So – I like to visit W-S, but I look at it as a research trip, not a shopping trip. Incidentally, that’s one thing my son and I did with toy stores when he was young and we were poorer. My son didn’t want so much to have more transformers (although that would have been great) as to be able to talk about them with the guys at recess. So we’d do research trips, and I found myself trying hard not to whine about whether he was done yet, and could we go – an interesting take on shopping with him!

Though one time I did happen upon a “must-have” piece of art that I then shipped back to myself so as not to deal with luggage.

When I get home it goes on my “Wish List”. About once a month, I edit my “Wish List” — checking if books are in the local library, checking reviews of items, checking lowest prices — and editing the list with the newer information. Then I prioritize the list — what I want most goes to the top of the list — and delete no longer wanted items. If the item stay at the top of the list for 3 or 4 months, I buy it (or set it up as a goal to buy).

I don’t seem to have the problem Trent has though. In fact, I am too far in the opposite direction. I have trouble spending money on myself even when it is something I actually need desperately, such as new glasses or winter boots.

You are stronger than me.

There, and Sur la Table, are my lusty stores.

Yes, but if I wanted to buy something from Williams-Sonoma I’d be inclined to just wait until I was not travelling since their stock is pretty universal. If I was shopping someplace else I’d be looking for something unusual to buy.

I was taking the more pertinent part of this article to be spending while travelling, but maybe that’s not really what Trent was driving at. I will say — I’m not a social shopper, so the mere presence of other people wouldn’t trigger me to spend. I’m a solo shopper. Otherwise this is just a rehash of stuff he’s written about before.

I’ve been to the store specifically to get new casual shoes about 3 times, and finally bought a pair last Saturday. I’ve been putting off buying a new pair of athletic shoes for about a year.

I hate spending money on myself