Overconsumption: The urge to splurge

I am in the market to buy a jacket . Its wintertime here in northern India and i want to get a jacket that looks good and one that i can also use in my travels to Minnesota in the US where my company is based.

I checked last week and i have, different varieties of almost 7 jackets fully occupying my cupboard... but still everytime i go to a mall .. virtual or brick..i keep searching and am on thr lookout for jackets... its the urge to splurge.

Todays advertisements and fashion force the buyer decision making to conform to their mesaages... not only at conscious but also at the subconscious level. Its very frightening.

Its an urge to collect more and more stuff even though you may not need it.

Marketers have perfected this art .. with the right placements and the right positioning .. blaring their products right into their customers mind.

How to control this.. in a rational manner is the name of the game... and remember.. control doesnt mean abstinence... it means spending in the right places.

Here are some thoughts that i use when trying to control these urges..

1. Do more virtual shopping... so that the urge to buy.. that instant of urge dies down.
2. Remember the other stuff lying in your cupboard and the fact that your cupboard is bursting at its seams.
3. Remember that at 12% return.. the money that you don't spend and invest doubles every 5 yrs!.. and much can that become in 20 yrs (5 yrs is not great for compounding.. one must consider a time frame of 15 to 20 yrs).

So to show a calculation..

1000 rs will be

2000 in 5 yrs
4000 in 10 yrs
8000 in 15 yrs
16000 in 20 yrs.

So a jacket of 5000 rs will be 5000×16= 90000 Rs!!!

4. First take a pledge of giving away the stuff that you already have to others.. we took all of our old but good quality woolens and i gave them in 5 places when stopping at red lights.  And i had like 2 big bags. I at least know that we helped at least 25 children and adults to have a safer and warmer winters. 

5. Look at the budget of spending and then spend .. look at the money in your spending envelope .. and then spend ( i plan to use this idea more..not using it effectively enough)

These are a few of the ideas i use.. and no.. it doesnt help all of the time.. but hey some indulgence is good... but not always.

Plan your spends.. and control the urge to splurge.

What other ideas and tricks do you use..

Share .. learn together.. thats simplefinancialsense