Becoming an Intentional Shopper
As a teenager, shopping was a hobby, something to do on a saturday. I’d browse the stores and use my camp counsellor funds to get a cute top to add to my collection. I now consider myself an intentional shopper. My browsing is purposeful, a habit that keeps the clutter out of my home. Here is my magic recipe for becoming an intentional shopper:
Do Your Research
When it comes to appliances and other household purchases, my first stop is usually the NY Time Wirecutter. They extensively review most commonly purchased items (especially those that have a lot of options on the market) and I’ve never been let down by their opinion.
Intentional shopping has specifically helped me reduce my time browsing sales. Instead of checking out the sales for items I might want, I want the item first then do the research. Unsubscribing from email lists was an important step to becoming an intentional shopper. There is a lot of psychology that goes behind the marketing strategies in those emails. They are designed to create urgency and reel you in.
Specifically for clothing, I like to have an ongoing list of desired items I want to fill gaps in my wardrobe. When I am shopping, I focus on searching for the items on my list and narrow in on my colour palette (see Building a Capsule Wardrobe blog post for more details on my colour palette selection process).
Find A Home For It
The most crucial part of maintaining an organizational system is keeping the balance of items in your home. If new items are coming in, they need a home, and more often than not, it means something has to go. If you follow me on Instagram, you may remember when I took to the polls to ask people's opinion on where I should store an Air Fryer I was considering - the counter, or replace the spot in the cupboard where my instapot lives, which I’d consider donating. Well it’s been over a month, and I haven’t yet found a home I like for the appliance, so we have yet to get one. Decision paralysis can be a side effect of intentional shopping. Although in this case, I think it saved me from an unnecessary kitchen appliance.
Have an Exit Strategy
Once I’ve come to the consensus that I am going to buy a [insert well researched item, with a place to be stored in my home], I like to have an exit strategy to make sure that the space the item takes up in my home continues to be intentional. If the product has a return policy, I add a note to my calendar as a reminder. I like to throw out boxes that products come in as soon as they are unboxed, but I married a man who likes to hold onto the boxes “just in case”. The calendar note has been our perfect compromise, and official expiry date of how long the box is allowed to live in our home.
The idea of putting this much thought into every single purchase might sound overwhelming, so start using the intentional shopping thought process with the big ticket items and see where it takes you. Let me know how it goes!
