This is a little story about how planning ahead can help you avoid compulsive spending. It’s how my wife and I budgeted and spent $40 in a day when others were spending $100 or more. And we had just as good a time (or better) then they did. Here’s what happened:
My wife and I took my son apple picking yesterday. It was a great day. We go pretty much every year and it’s a great way to spend a day (and not a lot of money – if you play your cards right). I’m not sure if it’s against “the rules” but you also get to eat more apples than you ever wanted to before you get back to your car.
But what a business it was! Seriously, everywhere we looked there was something for sale – more specifically something “apple” for sale. Like the “apple” barbecue sauce, for example. We’re big barbecue sauce people, so I did break through the cobwebs and pull out a few bucks for that. I like to support small business, too, so I justified it that way as well. And I had budgeted to spend $40 or less, which we did, so it worked. I’ll let you know how it is when we try it…
Some costs were not optional once you got there. For example, apple picking was $8 per bag (it holds 15-20 lbs – or slightly more if you use a stick to hold the bag because it holds the handles open, thus increasing the capacity by at least 2 apples…).
When you buy your bag they tell you that you need to pay for the hay ride too. That’s another $5 per person. That’s OK. It was still a cheap way to enjoy a full day with the family. Including the barbecue sauce we were just above $20 for the whole day so far. Not bad at all.
But the “selling” didn’t stop there. Even the hay-ride driver was selling “extra apple bags” in case you didn’t buy enough. (Of course, this “offer” was right after he talked about all of the great apples and how “you’ll have a great time filling up your bags nice and quick. But don’t worry, we have extra bags for sale on the tractor in case you didn’t get enough.”)
Brilliant business. Bad for impulse spenders. Of course we didn’t end up buying more bags (we only needed one (actually, we probably didn’t need one, but we planned a pie and a few baked apples, so that was about one bag’s worth, so that’s what we went with)). But you could hear others second guessing their “bag inventory.” Cha-ching.
Once you get back to the barn they hit you up with everything apple you could ever think of (except for the iPad
Fortunately, my wife and I only got hit up with apple barbecue sauce, a small snack for lunch (to go with the apples), a drink and an ice cream. We spent right under the $40 we budgeted for the day and had a great time.
I’m used to fighting off compulsive spending. Usually I do well by mentally setting an “event budget” and planning what I want to buy before I go. It’s not anything formal, but I usually give myself and amount to spend and either what I want to buy or categories. (A snack was a category today. A caramel apple was specific.). So the combination of “event budget” and categories/items I want keeps me in check.
I also have a rule that I won’t buy anything that’s within 10 feet from the cashier unless I’m specifically going to the store to get that item. This one has helped a bunch, too.
Incidentally, I don’t know if you’ve ever been apple picking, but it’s addicting and very competitive. It’s actually kind of funny. You see people walking to their car with their bags and can hear others people going “I could have fit more” or “wow, check out how many apples that gal got.”
My wife actually had the line of the day when she started grabbing smaller apples. I pointed out some larger apples right next to the small ones and then she fires back with “You have to stagger the sizes. I get small apples to fill in the spaces between the larger apples.”
God I love her! Brilliant. Just brilliant. In fact, when we got back on the hayride our bag was the “talk of the tractor.” 
So that’s my story of how I control impulse spending. It’s not perfect, but it works for me. Sometimes I screw up, of course, but usually I’m able to leave with minimal damage. My biggest impulse buy is almost always beef jerky. For some reason I have a hard time walking away from Jack Link’s Sweet & Hot Beef Jerky. That guy knows his jerky. Is anyone else’s mouth watering?
What’s the impulse item that gets you? And how do you avoid impulse spending? Any other apple-picking tricks of the trade that I don’t know? I’m still impressed with the big apple, small apple (or all small apples) method. And the stick to hold the handles is great too. But that’s all we got.
So until next time, stay away from impulse spending. And, of course, put your credit card down and slowly step away from the mall!
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