Nowadays, messages of flash sales and limited period offers coming on smartphones immediately attract us. Especially during holidays, there is a flood of such offers. It is not easy to resist seeing huge discounts, and we hastily buy things that we don't really need. Later, when we look at those things, we realize that many things are just lying there, gathering dust in the cupboard. To be honest, this is not just your problem, but has become a common habit, which directly affects our pockets.
To put this habit of suddenly buying unnecessary things in simple language, it is a habit of just feeling in mind and buying it. In the language of money it is called impulse purchase. There are many reasons behind this, a little excitement, habit of hurrying and the biggest reason is FOMO i.e. one might miss this offer. When we feel that we may miss a good deal, we spend money without thinking much. Seeing flashy advertisements and big offers, our thinking lags behind and our emotions take over. The result is that we buy things that were not needed, and this has a direct impact on our pockets. Gradually the budget starts deteriorating and it becomes difficult to manage money.
Money experts explain a very easy and effective way to solve this problem, which is called the one-week rule. As simple as it sounds, it is equally effective. The simple rule is that whenever you see something that you want to buy immediately, stop yourself there. Instead of paying immediately, just wait a week.
In this one week, think about whether that thing is really your need or whether you just felt like it at that time. If even after seven days you feel that yes, this thing is necessary, then buy it only. In most of the cases, what happens is that after a few days the enthusiasm for the same purchase cools down, and you yourself understand that there was no need for it that much. In such a situation, your money is saved and unnecessary expenditure is also avoided.
Actually, this seven days is a kind of cooling off period. When we go to buy something, there is a tug of war between emotions and rationality in our mind. In such a situation, this little pause is very useful. When you stop for a week and think with a calm mind, most of the times you realize that the thing was not as important as it seemed at that time. Gradually you yourself start avoiding unnecessary expenditure.
The real benefit of this rule becomes visible after some time. Suppose you spend around Rs 5,000 every month without thinking. So in a year it becomes Rs 60,000, and in five years it becomes Rs 3 lakh. Now imagine, if you adopt the one-week rule and save this money and instead of spending it, invest it somewhere, then the picture can change. If you get an annual return of about 12% on this money, then by investing the same Rs 5,000 every month, a fund of about Rs 4.05 lakh can be created in five years. This means that the money which was being spent unnecessarily earlier may be useful for some major need of yours in future.
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