After about a year of online shopping spree heavily induced by lockdowns, I decided to record and analyze all the purchases I made online and not surprisingly, a lot of those are either left unused or broken. This made me realize how a lot of purchases I do are really just because of impulse.
Now, I try to be more conscious about what I buy through simple accounting. I always record everything I order with my ledger. Together with that, I also have a list of the items I currently own with an indication how much I paid for it initially and how long have I been using them. Regular tracking really helps to make sense of your financial decisions.
By default I don't buy things on Amazon, but just add it to the cart, and keep in cart for weeks. I sometimes go over the cart. If there's something I truly need, it would come up often enough in mind that the next time I check cart it will make me click 'buy'.
Now, I try to be more conscious about what I buy through simple accounting. I always record everything I order with my ledger. Together with that, I also have a list of the items I currently own with an indication how much I paid for it initially and how long have I been using them. Regular tracking really helps to make sense of your financial decisions.