Gary North

You have your shopping notebook. (Right?) Now put it to good use.

You have gone shopping. You have seen a bargain. It costs more than $1 -- your limit on impulse buying. You wrote it down. Now you are at home.

Should you add it to your 30-day cool-off shopping list?

You need a shopping delay list. Every day, you turn to it to see what you allow yourself to buy today. From here it goes onto your next shopping list.

But before it goes onto your 30-day list, you must persuade yourself to buy it. Get out a sheet of paper. Draw a line down the middle of the page. On the left is Buy. On the right is Skip.

List the reasons to buy. List the reasons not to buy. Compare.

Do it for every item that costs more than $1.00. No, the cheap items are not worth your time. But the discipline of going through this exercise without exception is worth your time. You are trying to change bad habits.

Shopping is not like drug addiction. It's normal. Your habits are the problem, not shopping. You have got to get into control over your habits.

Yes, you may buy things you need. But you must buy them systematically.