Ai-yi-yi.

[conuly]

Somewhere along the line I discovered that if I have an impulse to buy something, I can curb it by shoving it in my Amazon cart and walking away. This works REALLY WELL - if I have the money later, I can buy it then, and I don't buy it when I really don't have the cash!

Except that if I need to buy something else I need to shove a lot of things out of the cart into "save for later" and, um, I'm not really sure I want to say how many things are in there.

I've started deleting things I'll either never buy or will look up again if I decide I need, and I've also begun moving games and puzzles into a bona fide wishlist but after a good hour of work I've still yet to reach the bottom. It doesn't help that Amazon insists on endless scroll instead of sensible page numbers, nor that once you've spent more than a minute on the page it automatically refreshes the entire thing if you delete an item. Maybe I should start another list or two for other things? Adding things onto lists rather than the cart is such a hassle, though.

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Comments

[coyotegoth]

I do that, too :)

[dark_phoenix54]

I have about 5 pages of stuff in my Amazon 'wish list' for this same reason! A lot I end up deleting after a few months.

[conuly]

Some of this stuff is YEARS old.

[conuly]

That's a relief!

[konsectatrix]

Oh I do that all the time! And eventually (months or years later), I either delete it from the SFL list or migrate it to a wishlist where I promptly forget all about it. It works really well for me.

Also, when I am deliberately shopping for something and I'm overwhelmed by the choices and having trouble making a decision (thanks for nothing, executive function!), I just put all the options in the cart so I don't lose track, and that kills the anxiety. I can come back at any time and consider the options in a rational fashion.

[conuly]

In this case, I still want these things - ALL THESE THINGS! - I just don't want them cluttering up my cart. (JFC, I seem to have put some of them in here three times.)

[monanotlisa]

I do the same thing! (Spoiler, I rarely return to buy. ;)

[konsectatrix]

Aw, haha, it's nice to know I'm not the only one. If it's in my cart 3x and on my wishlist too, I know I REALLY like the thing!

[conuly]

Yes, that seems to be the size of it for a lot of these.

[shadowkat]

Somewhere along the line I discovered that if I have an impulse to buy something, I can curb it by shoving it in my Amazon cart and walking away. This works REALLY WELL - if I have the money later, I can buy it then, and I don't buy it when I really don't have the cash!

Yep, me too. Figured that out finally myself. Along with this wonderful thing called "Prime Wardrobe" -- where I can have four shoes sent to me, try them on, and then send them back if they don't fit for free.

Doesn't work with Kindle unfortunately. You either have to buy or forget about it. As a result...I have a lot of books on my Kindle...that I really shouldn't have bought, but where cheap at the time. The Kindle Daily Deal is a dangerous thing...not helped by the fact that a percentage goes to the charity of my choice.

[conuly]

Ah, you can return Kindle books for a refund if you've only read a small part of them.

[archangelbeth]

I thought that the Zon would have some Mystery Number Of Returned Books and if you exceeded it, they trashed your account entirely... Have they fixed that?

[shadowkat]

And...do it within two or three days of ordering. Not six months to two years....;-)

But I have done that for a couple.

[zyzyly]

My wife is always dumping stuff in the Amazon cart. I don't really "shop" much on Amazon. I know what I want, and buy it.

[rebeccmeister]

I got mad at some point about websites trying to hijack my memory processes, so I keep text files with lists of books to read and things I want to acquire. Divorcing my contacts from e-mail accounts and social media sites has been much more challenging, though.

[ephemera]

I use Kindle Samples as the equivalent action for kindle books

[shadowkat]

Yes, I've done that too...and that would admittedly be the bright thing to do..but, it comes on sale, I snatch it. Then I think, much, much later, why did I do that? This book no longer interests me at all. LOL!

[foliedemars]

I do the exact same thing with Amazon. I can see I'm not alone!

[conuly]

Well, so don't do it too often. They did ding me once when they presumably thought I'd returned too many in one day.

[conuly]

:D

[conuly]

It's just sort of... something that happens.

[conuly]

Such a relief to know, right?

[archangelbeth]

Heh. I just stopped bothering with the Kindle and switched to iBooks. Where I try not to buy too much! ...I need to get back to reading some stuff. Uuuugh, where is my BRAIN? And concentration? Uuuuugh.

[fred_mouse]

I do approximately the same thing, dumping them into a wishlist. And then when I need more things to qualify for free shipping, and the difference between +1/free shipping and pay for shipping is about the same, I add something that is currently on special.

[elenbarathi.livejournal.com]

I say, scroll quickly down through the whole list, make a new list of 20 items that you actually want, need, and intend to buy this season, and mercilessly delete all the rest. Then delete one item for every item you add, so there are never more than 20 items on the list.

[conuly]

THERE ARE OVER 400 ITEMS ON THERE. IT WILL NEVER HAPPEN.

Plus, honestly, a serious number ARE things we actually want, need, and/or intend to buy this season - like new dog sweaters, new human sweaters (omg plz), and an immersion blender. I want an immersion blender more than I want a new roof, and almost as much as I want a working furnace.