Four Really Bad Online Shopping Habits (and how to beat them)
The bright side of online shopping means I don’t have to face another unforgiving fitting room mirror again. Bye Felicia! I can self-loathe in front of my own bedroom mirror, thank you.
However, with the convenience and ease of the online shopping revolution comes a downside – We’ve developed some terrible shopping habits that may lead us to financial difficulties.
Here are four of the worst online shopping habits that need to be addressed before we find ourselves drowning under a pile of unnecessary stuff and debt.
“Just Browsing”
It spells trouble if you’re heading to your favourite online shopping sites first thing every morning to see what’s new or on sale. Pretty soon you’ll find yourself down the rabbit hole, filling up your cart which can quickly turn into a checkout before you realise it.
Resist the urge to check-in every day and if you can’t use your wishlist. Try to keep your purchasing down to finding the best prices when you actually need something. Add the item to your wishlist rather. You are more than likely to receive a notification when it goes on sale and you can re-evaluate if you still really want or need it.
Taking “advantage” of credit facilities
Had a bad week and you’re in dire need of some retail therapy? No judgement, we’ve all been there. Putting all those guilty pleasure purchases on your credit card or using credit facilities is where things get messy. An item here, an item there, “It won’t hurt anyone. I’ll pay it off eventually” who hasn’t told themselves this lie?
The biggest mistake most people make, they don’t account for the interest on those 12-month repayments. Calculate the 20.25% interest on the five big-ticket items you buy in a year which will take a year to pay off. Scary, we know! This is an ugly debt cycle South African’s are getting themselves into. A paid debt is not a reason to make a new one.
That’s where Payflex comes in. We’re trying to help South Africans break that bad debt cycle by offering you the opportunity to buy now and pay in 4 at no added extra cost.
The PayDay Frenzy
Payday have you feeling like a millionaire, you can buy anything you want? Can you really though? What happened to the budget planning?
Avoid going payday cray and blowing your budget in the first week. Remember money goes out faster than it comes in.
Make sure you have a budget and stick to it! Try as best you can to plan your purchases and avoid the urge to impulse buy when you see all that cash money in your bank account. You can now stretch out your salary with PayFlex buy what you want now for only 25% of the cost. All you have to do is plan your budget for your next four payments.
Adding a few extras for free delivery
Free delivery is always great but it’s not always a must! An item in our cart might not qualify for free shipping so what do we do? Look for more stuff to add to cart. We don’t realize this but we end up buying things we don’t need. This only increases the total cost to way more than the original item with shipping. All this just to “save” R60 on shipping!
If you really don’t want to pay for shipping, there is a workaround. Instead of bulking up your cart with stuff you don’t need, ask your friend’s or colleagues if they were planning a purchase from the same site and then place one big order. This way, no one pays for shipping and you don’t spend more money.
Use these handy tips and flex the way you pay with PayFlex to break those bad shopping habits because we know everyone needs a helping hand.
