Someone once said: „Money doesn’t give you happiness, only shopping does.” There is something in it, but this kind of happiness doesn’t last long.

Psychologists say that shopaholics, or people addicted to shopping, often feel depressed shortly after they have bought something. There are many traps you should watch out for while shopping. Try to be careful, and you will buy what you really want and save some money as well.

Shops are smart. They have created different “shopping holidays” during the year, when all the prices are reduced just for this special day. A good example is Black Friday – a special Friday in November when all the shops and websites are full of discounts as high as 80% off. Many customers are sure they can find real bargains on such days but this is not always  true. In fact, very often you can buy something cheaper before or after the special day. To sum up – don’t get carried away and watch the price of the product you want to buy for a longer period of time before buying it.

Many shops boast limited‑time offers or even happy hours. This means the price of a product is reduced only for one day or just for a few hours. This mechanism is very simple. It makes you think that if you don’t buy something right away you will miss a great bargain.

Well, stop and think twice. Do you really need another pair of socks just because it is a bit cheaper? Limited‑time offers usually make us buy things we don’t need at all. So, in fact, they don’t help you save, just the opposite – they make you waste your money!

We all know offers such as “buy one get one free” or “5 plus 1 free”. It all sounds really tempting but … Do you remember popping into your corner shop for one carton of milk and leaving the place with six litres of milk, three bars of chocolate and four kilos of bananas? Don’t make it buy one waste one!

Remember, buying in bulk, especially when it comes to grocery shopping, makes sense only when you really need the products and can consume them before the “sell‑by date”. If you buy too many peppers or apples, they will go off before you use them up. It means you don’t save any money buying apples on a special “5 plus one free” offer. In fact, you waste your money and, which may be even worse, you waste the apples!

Pleasant and relaxing as it may be, online shopping involves many more threats than you can think of. Buying from home is easy and comfortable because, as many websites tell you, your dream product is just a click away. However, researchers have already shown that the comfort of shopping online just makes you buy more than you need.

Another problem is internet fraud or cybercrime. These include breaking into your mailbox, hacking your bank account, stealing your identity, and many many more. We all know we should protect our data online, but the majority of shoppers just don’t do that. The temptation to “add product to cart” is stronger than common sense.

It looks like there’s no universal way of avoiding all the shopping traps, but it is common sense that won’t let you lose your nerve and… money.

Analyse the mind map.