Sometimes these studies crack me up, and I want to share them so we can all smile.
This one makes complete sense to me and the life I live.
Researchers studied how and what people purchase at the grocery store and how they pay for their food.
Not really surprising, but they learned that when people use cash instead of credit or debit cards at the grocery store, they buy fewer unhealthy foods. (Note: this doesn’t mean they purchase more healthy foods, it means they don’t buy as much of the junk.)
They determined the reason for this is impulse buying, which makes a lot of sense: if you only have $10 on you and you need to buy $9 worth of groceries, you can’t spend $5 on junk food impulsively without rewriting your list or starving your family.
Moreover, the researchers determined that the “budget deviation” (I love scientists) between what someone had budgeted to spend on groceries and what they actually spent was consumed primarily of impulse purchases. They related the budget deviation directly to desire and willpower.
Isn’t that why the $5 magazines and the $1 candies are at the checkout? Once we think we’re done shopping we let down our guard?
I was the grateful and fortunate recipient of a gift card this holiday season to Trader Joes. I just finished the balance up on Tuesday, and I’m sad that it is now gone. I know I used it on items not on my list that I thought would be fun: I got that cheese I tried once and remember enjoying; I got a bag of my favorite almonds just because; I got an extra bag of popcorn. (I got a load of other stuff too but I’m not willing to list that stuff on the internet.)
It was so easy to load up since the gift card balance wasn’t factored into my typical food budget!
I’m pretty sure I’m not going to start buying groceries with cash, and I’m fairly certain anyone reading this isn’t going to start going to the ATM before the grocery every time, either.
But it’s one of those small tricks we should be at least aware of if we are trying to eliminate excess literal and figurative junk in our trunks.
This is so me. When I go to Trader Joe’s these days I try to think ahead of time what I need, bring only enough cash for those items and I walk there.
It’s SO much harder to walk home with 6 bottles of wine than it is to drive with them.
And I look for that gorilla…. Koko!