7 Ways You Overbuy Things Without Realizing It
Written by
Gina Hagler
Edited by
Nicholas Morine
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We’ve all experienced the woes of overbuying… overcrowding our drawers and cabinets, fridges and freezers filled with expiring items hidden under or in the back. We may put too much stock in sale prices.
We often don’t realize this is happening, so here are seven example scenarios where one might spend too much and end up with a surplus of supplies — and not enough space.
Top Overbuying Habits You May Not Be Aware Of
- Do you ever find yourself throwing expired food away, like milk, condiments or medicine? If you’re not using up your perishables before their expiration, you probably didn’t need to purchase so many, per Gretchen Rubin. Worse, perhaps you didn’t need it in the first place. Moreover, a series of studies lead by researcher Yann Cornil showed increased pleasure with more modest portions versus too-large selections, as Harvard Business Review detailed.
- We like to overbuy single-purpose appliances, cluttering our kitchens. This includes things like grills, panini presses, waffle irons, bread machines, juicers, fondue pots, apple slicers, donut makers, ice cream machines and many more, The Simplicity Habit indicated.
- Sometimes we buy things because we believe they reflect our character positively. Someone might buy a hefty amount of folders and binders because that makes them seem more organized.
- Have you purchased flowers, cards or letters, toys or other items with the intent to use them as gifts — yet you don’t currently have a friend or family member in mind to receive them? Now you have these things in storage, so when the time comes (a birthday, anniversary or holiday), the gift-to-be might have a successor which the person would rather receive.
- Certain items like shampoo, vitamins or cough medicine are slow to deplete, yet we open the door to find we have several of these things. Whether it’s because we thought we used more than we really do — or conversely, we use too much and need to cut back — crowded cabinets may be the result of overbuying. This also goes for the newest beauty products, according to My Wardrobe, Myself.
- Subscriptions and memberships. It isn’t enough to purchase books, music, movies or even exercise equipment, we also indulge in magazine subscriptions, gym memberships and some combination of Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Disney+, Kindle, Amazon Prime and others.
- You enter the store to purchase something specific when you happen to come across something else that catches your eye. Marketing has you convinced this new gadget or tool will prove handy down the line… but it ends up sitting on a shelf for months — forgotten, unused and unneeded. It makes sense to have certain items readily available, like a fire extinguisher or a first aid kit, but maybe we don’t need three different bandange boxes. Some of these tools, the very specific ones, will end up in the garage for a long time — that is, until you come across it and don’t even remember what it was for.
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