The world is at your finger tips. You can buy or replace anything you want, any day of the week. But the question I have today is, “Is this really worth it?” Let’s talk about the 30 Day Rule and how you can use it to save yourself some money.
What is the 30 Day Rule?
Whenever you’re considering making an unnecessary purchase, wait thirty days and then ask yourself if you still want that item. Quite often, you’ll find that the urge to buy has passed and you’ll have saved yourself some money by simply waiting. If you want, you can even keep a “thirty day list” where you write down the item and the day you’ll reconsider it, but I prefer just to keep this one in my head – that way, I often just forget about the unimportant things.
Here are a couple of tips to help you get the most of the the 30 Day Rule:
For these tips let’s assume we want/need a new vacuum.
You have time to figure out if this was something we really wanted to do.
Do we really need a nicer vacuum? Could we just use a simple replacement for the one we already had? Do we actually need one at all, can ours me cleaned or fixed to work again? Does it just need a new belt? These questions are often enough to talk you out of an unnecessary purchase. Try doing this with, say, a new TV, and you’ll find yourself not spending $500 or so on a a tv that you don’t really need.
You have time to actually identify the specific item you are looking for.
You can take the time to research, read reviews, and compare brands. Maybe there is a specific feature we are looking for, or a specific brand. In the case of a vacuum you can compare whether or now it requires replacement belts, bags, etc.. Are their features of the impulse buy that you don’t really feel are necessary? Take your time making the right choice.
You have time to carefully shop for the right item.
Once you make a your choice of what specific brand or model you are looking for, you can spend some time shopping around for that item – and waiting for the right price. Set up some notifications for prices on the items we were interested in on websites like Amazon.
In most situations I believe that the 30 Day Rule can stop you from making stupid money choices. It can help you to be a better shopper and consumer.
I think you should set a price limit for the 30 Day Rule, for smaller purchases you can maybe implement a 72 hour rule (you know since that’s time you have to cancel some transactions).
What would your price limit be for the the 30 Day Rule?
