Limits on Buying:
Impose limits on buying, especially when it comes to things you don’t need.
This makes better things happen at the cost of not doing something. It also clarifies decision making. You can systematically rule out most impulse purchase, while ditching the lost time/energy in justifications, buyer’s remorse, returns, etc.
Look, if you really truly need something, you’ll know it. If you weren’t sure, and you wisely defaulted to going without it, you’ll be fine. Not only does this exercise self control, but aside from the obvious (… it turns out you likely didn’t need it and saved your money) — in the event that you did, you’ll just buy it when it is very clear that you need it with no concerns.
Set aside the mental trap of “It’s really good deal, right now!”. More often then not, a similar or better deal will be available later if you wait or plan it.
The few circumstances that result in you paying a higher or ‘full price’ for a purchase, are easily outweighed by the sheer volume of things you won’t be buying, and the mental energy of not dragging yourself through mental justification dance to try and please the ‘want’ without the guilt of succumbing to the temptation.
The Limit: Setup conditions or rules to always use.
Example 1: Waiting at least one day. (“I won’t buy anything I don’t need unless I sleep on it.” )
Example 2: Only buying something if you know it is and will likely be the best price you’ll find.
For the second one, this is often extremely easy to figure out for online purchases. The best way I’ve found to quickly answer this is a price tracker.
CamelCamelCamel (for Amazon.com) and (Steamdb for the Steam gaming platform) are two that come to mind *). A good price tracker will even give you graphs so you can quickly see trends and if you should wait.
*(If you want to see them, I’ll be listing the ones I use or know of, (here)