Save Money By Not Allowing Online Retailers To Store Your Credit Card Information

Want to buy a new book on your Kindle, or maybe the entire series, perhaps you want  to One-Click order that item you just heard about from a friend? No problem, Amazon conveniently has your information on file. Amazon isn’t alone here either. Nearly every online retailer, daily deal site, fashion warehouse, etc… that I can think of now offers the convenience of keeping your credit card on file for quick checkout.

Buying things online has gotten frighteningly easy. With Amazon I can click once to buy nearly anything, I can even do it from my phone or Kindle. For any even slightly impulsive shopper this is a disaster in the waiting. Ever made an online purchase and felt a strong feeling of guilt 10-30 minutes after?

Impulse shopping is just that, impulsive.

impulse |ˈimˌpəls

a sudden strong and unreflective urge or desire to act: I had an almost irresistible impulse to giggle.

Thankfully, as we all know, impulses fade with time. So you either need a lot of willpower or you need to set yourself up for non-failure. Luckily, setting yourself up for non-failure is pretty easy. Just don’t keep a credit card number stored on any website.

It may seem a bit clunky at first and that really is the point. If you truly need to buy something you’ll dig out your credit card, enter the digits and do it. This time allows you to actually think about what you’re doing!

Do you need that new book? Do you need that epic Star Wars lego set you saw on some gear website? Can you get a better price elsewhere? Can you DIY? Can you find an item that fits the purpose for a better price?

It’s all about time. Get over the impulse by giving yourself some and you might just safe a significant amount of money.

And if you find you’re too lazy to grab your credit card to finish a purchase in the first place, well I think we all know what the lesson is there.