We’ve all done it before. ‘Just browsing’ on Ebay. Starting that wishlist on Amazon. And before we know it, we’ve spent away that bit every month that’s ‘for a rainy day’. Let’s face it: winter is coming. There’s going to be a lot of rainy days, and that will make it all the more tempting to drown our sorrows in the depths of Facebook swap-sell pages.
What can we do to keep a lid on this? We’ve tried to come up with a few suggestions.
- Get a hobby
Ok, this may sound a little patronising at first, but hear me out. I often find myself browsing for shopping online, playing games, or levelling up on Candy Crush because I’m procrastinating. It’s ok to have some ‘me time’: but we need to remember that ‘me’ has a wallet too! Try spending time on other things, and only head online when you think of something you actually need.
2.Don’t autoload your credit/debit card information into autocomplete
You’ll be surprised at how effective this can be. I’ve lost count of the times I’m in a rush and gone ahead and clicked straight through to buying something rather than waiting till later. Handy as autocomplete is, it does ease the process so much that the wariness previously associated with handing over card details has been forgotten about.
3.Set a limit on Paypal or with your bank
All personal paypal accounts start with a limit, and through providing further personal details for verification, that limit is removed. However that can be restored through the settings: check out this article on Ehow for more details. The advantage to this is that it could limit any potential fraud as well.
4. Don’t get caught up in the moment
As well as Paypal, you could try and set limits on other sites. Ebay makes this easy, letting you put a maximum bid on an item, so that you can try and avoid getting caught in the excitement as the price rises towards the end of the auction. Casino reviewers like Red8’s also offer welcome bonuses to let you get the most of your money, the casinos they display offer limits on how much you can bet too, so you can enjoy yourself playing games like Batman slots without worrying if you’re going to break the bank.
5. Go Nuclear
Some apps like StayFocusd will block a website for a certain period of time. As previously mentioned, online shopping, gaming or chatting is often just about procrastination, so blocking them for an hour or two to get some work done could be just the thing you need to boost your productivity rate.
Best of luck!