Four questions to ask yourself before you buy something

I used to really be into the U.S. Thanksgiving. And of course I was. I was always looking for deals and it’s one of the biggest shopping weekends of the year.

But this year, I’ve been thinking about how else I could be spending my time. I’ve been thinking about being grateful for what I have instead of buying more.

When I woke up this morning, I found my email full of Black Friday deals. I had unsubscribed to a lot of retailer email lists, but a few remain, and those few still managed to fill up my inbox. So I decided to record a series of YouTube videos about not shopping that will be posted daily, from Black Friday to Cyber Monday.

In the first one, I share four questions I ask myself when I want to buy something:

1) Do I really need this?
2) Do I have something in my collection that I can use instead?
3) How will I feel over time if I either buy or do not buy this item?
4) Why do I want this?

While I definitely recommend asking yourself these questions when you're not 100% sure about buying a particular item, it's also helpful to think about these questions if you're looking at an item you believe to be a staple in your life. I tend to ponder these questions in my mind (or talk them over with a friend), but it would also be interesting to journal on them. If you like, you can get deep with these questions and really examine the psychology around why you shop.