The Difference Between Shopping And Buying
Is there a difference between shopping and buying? I think there is, and it can be a useful distinction if you are trying to limit your spending. All of us participate in both shopping and buying. But those who shop more than they buy will probably have a better handle on spending.
Shopping and buying defined
Shopping is when a person goes to a store, shopping center, or mall to get information. The price and quality of various products are compared in a relentless search for value. Do you know someone who can spend a lot of time in stores, but rarely purchases anything?
Buying is when a person goes to a store, shopping center, or mall with the intention of spending money, whether he has a specific item in mind or not. Have you ever known someone who cannot leave a store without buying something?
Often buying and shopping go hand-in-hand. When Rosa and I buy groceries, we take a list of items to be purchased. As we move about the store loading the items on our list into the shopping cart, we also price-shop other goods we will need in the future. It would be silly to make a special trip to the grocery store just to shop when we go there regularly to buy, anyway. Shopping while buying updates the database of marketplace knowledge that we carry around in our heads.
Shop more, spend less
Why do I say that one who shops more than she buys will have better control over her spending?
- Shopping doesn’t cost any money. One who spends more time shopping than buying will probably spend less money in the long run. It is not unusual for Rosa and I to shop for an item, sometimes for weeks, and then decide not to purchase it. Shopping is a part of the decision making process for us.
- Someone who shops more than they buy is likely to get a better value for purchases that are made, because that person will have a deep knowledge of the marketplace that gives her the ability to recognize a good deal when she encounters one.
- One who spends her timely primarily shopping tends to have a well defined objective when she turns to buying. She plans ahead and goes to the store knowing exactly what it is she wants and how much it will cost. She is less likely to get distracted into making impulse purchases.
- Shopping teaches patience and discipline, two qualities needed to contain spending.
- The next time you feel compelled to go to the mall, leave your cash, credit cards, debit cards, and checkbook at home. Experience shopping without buying.
- Make a budget. When you realize how little you have to spend, you may be less likely to buy just for the sake of buying.
- When you have to make one or more purchases, prepare a list of those items before you leave the house. Take only enough money to pay for the items on the list (the envelope budget method makes this easy to do) plus your normal rainy day money. Stick to your list when you arrive at the store.
- Go to your local bank or credit union and make a deposit into your savings or money market account or open a certificate of deposit. This gives you the experience of going out and spending money without actually spending it.
- If you find that your buying is compulsive and you are at a loss to control it, seek help from a 12-step program (Debtors Anonymous) or a licensed professional.
K.C. Knouse is the author of True Prosperity: Your Guide to a Cash-Based Lifestyle, Double-Dome Publications, 224 pages
