I’m not proud to admit this, but after paying off my credit card, I racked it back up again. There are some reasonable transactions on it, like a hotel room stay I wanted to earn points on, but if I’m being honest with myself, most of them aren’t all that responsible. What can I say? My winter wardrobe was begging for a refresh.
Every once in a while, I get into this mode where I start spending, and I just can’t stop. And lately, I’ve found myself justifying purchases almost daily. $35 here and there never seems like much until the statement rolls in and knocks me on my ass. Last month, I had to take a long, hard look at myself. As much as I loved the new matching set I was wearing while I did it, I needed to get my act together—and I knew just how I was going to do it.
A few months back, I stumbled upon a TikTok video from Alison Talks Money titled “Unhinged Ways to Save Money,” and one of the ways has been lingering in the back of my mind ever since: The “one day” shopping rule. To put an end to my incessant shopping habit, I decided to implement the rule, and let me just say, I really, truly wish I had done it sooner. Ahead, how the rule works, what happened when I tried it, and whether it’s worth implementing.
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What is the “one day” shopping rule?
After going viral for asking her followers to share their most “unhinged tips” for keeping themselves from spending money, TikToker Alison Talks Money shared a follow-up video featuring a few of her favorite responses. Truthfully, they are all pretty genius and hilarious, like “I taped a picture of my mother to my debit card to remind me of when we had to move in with her and how bad that was,” or “My husband is a fireman, so when I really start thinking about whether I want to buy something, I think [about whether] its worth him running into a burning building for.” Out of all the responses that were shared, there was one in particular that stuck out to me: the “one day” shopping rule.
In her video, Alison reads the details of the rule from another user simply: “I only buy things on one day a week. I can add things to my carts all week, but on Sunday, I sort out what I actually need/can afford, and have to look at the totals all at once.” Basically, this rule keeps you from buying things all week long and shuddering at the total later, which I’m a little too familiar with. At the end of the week, you assess all of your carts and decide what you actually want to (and can reasonably afford to) purchase.
How to implement the “one day” shopping rule
To implement this shopping rule, all you have to do is refrain from making any purchases until one designated day of the week. The horror! “Window shop” as you please and add things to your cart as you normally would, but don’t check out. Then, on the day that works best for you—whether that’s pay day, a Sunday, or somewhere in the middle—assess all of your carts at once. Ask yourself: Do you still care about what’s still in? Are the items actually a fit for your life right now? What is the actual purpose of the item? Would this purchase align with your consumption rules? Then, you can move forward with buying what you want, need, and can afford.
Obviously, this is a rule geared toward online shopping; however, you can exercise the same restraint in-store, too. For example, if you hit Target on a Wednesday and are tempted to throw a new book and a few body care products in your cart, write the items down in your Notes app. Then, if you still want them or need them at the end of the week and can justify them alongside anything else you want to purchase, you can go back for them.
What happened when I tried it
You should know that my money attachment style is anxious-avoidant. I avoid looking at my account at all costs because withdrawals, whether they total $5 or $500, always send me into a tailspin. With that said, I was really apprehensive about facing totals before I tested this rule. I prefer to shop to my heart’s content and cry about it later. However, I was hopeful that by looking at the totals before they hit my account, I’d save some money, and maybe, hopefully, be able to face my bank account more comfortably.
Before my first week, I started by laying some ground rules. I decided to do my purchasing on Sundays, just like the video suggested, and set a budget of $75 a week. The latter isn’t a part of the original rule, but I know myself well enough to know that I really do need to know when enough is enough. Case in point: At the end of the first week, I had five carts with items in them, totaling over $400.
Truthfully, this didn’t really surprise me. I add things to my carts all the time to remind myself to look at them later. It was easy for me to sit down, assess all the items, and actually only purchase a handful of things, which totaled close to $70. The week after this was similar, but it was the following week that got a little blurry. I needed a few essentials before Sunday rolled around, and spending during the week made me a little too relaxed about my allowance.
“Seeing your entire shopping tab in one glance is sobering and can definitely force a reality check.”
Naturally, I didn’t account for the $40 I spent earlier in the week on Sunday because those items weren’t in my carts and I spent another $50 on things that I’d been eying. I thought I was doing well, but realistically, I spent $15 more than I intended to. Is this a big deal? No. I was still more intentional than I had been and didn’t buy everything I wanted. But the problem I ran into was two-fold: First, only buying things one day a week wasn’t realistic. Second, “allowing” myself to purchase items on a certain day almost guarantees I’m still going to buy things I don’t really need.
After this, I did some tweaking to my version of the rule: I would allow myself to purchase “needs” throughout the week (because you can’t really wait to buy face wash when you run out), but I would account for them at the end of the week. This helped me spend less money on “wants,” which did successfully result in fewer unnecessary purchases overall.
Does the “one day” shopping rule actually work?
So, does the “one day” shopping rule work? For me, the answer is yes and no. Obviously, it’s not realistic for all purchases. Sometimes I need to re-up on mascara on a Tuesday, and there’s literally nothing I can do about that. But I will say that this rule was pretty effective for curbing my “want” spending. I really have reeled back on adding things to my carts since testing this rule—thinking longer and harder about what I really can justify purchasing. In that way, it has been helpful. However, I want to circle back to the fact that I just said it curbed my spending on wants—it didn’t just magically make me stop my unnecessary purchases.
The rule, for someone like me with little self-control, kind of backfired. Giving myself permission to shop on Sundays still led me to purchase things I didn’t really need. It was like I designated that day as my shopping day, so I was going to get something either way. For example, I bought two more washes in a pair of jeans I love because they were on sale. I did not need them. They really aren’t that different. But it was Sunday!
With that in mind, I don’t follow this rule anymore. It was helpful in that it forced me to slow down and think about how things add up (I did go from almost spending $400 my first week to actually only spending $70, after all), and I so needed that. But still, it’s not the end-all, be-all rule for me. You might have more patience and self-control than me, and if that’s the case, I would recommend trying this out. It really can save you hundreds.
Seeing your entire shopping tab in one glance is sobering and can definitely force a reality check. Plus, as we all know, it is helpful to regularly sit down with yourself and consider how and why you spend your money. I’m taking what I learned from this challenge and trying to be more mindful and less impulsive in the future. As for my current carts, they aren’t completely abandoned just yet, but I am certain that I’ve inched a little closer to making more mindful shopping decisions.
Hailey Tagliarino, Assistant Managing Editor
As Assistant Managing Editor for The Everygirl, Hailey Tagliarino oversees, writes, and edits content across various categories on the site. From the pitching stage through publishing, she works alongside the team to ensure that the content that our readers see every day is inspiring, relatable, and timely.
