Futureshop (now Best Buy) and Circuit City are the adult candy stores of today. It’s a haven for impulse buying and a personal finance app such as CalendarBudget takes the guilt out of buying tech and helps you stick to a budget.

For many people (mostly male) who walk into these stores, our eyes widen with excitement… I find myself asking “Which items most badly want to come home with me?” So many new toys, gadgets and .. oh ya, they cost money… lots of money. But surely my pleasure and bragging rights will compensate for the high price, right? Maybe for a few days, but then you have to face the bill or the other need that you now cannot afford.

I find when I go into those stores, I go with a purpose and item in mind, and go directly to that item and then make my purchase and leave. Otherwise, the temptation can be too great :).

This is all part of sticking to a budget. It’s a true skill to avoid impulse buying and be strong in your determination to meet your long-term financial goals and sacrifice the short term pleasure. But if you commit to it and resolve to be careful in these temptation stores, you can do it.

What is my worst “impulse buy”? A projector as a replacement for a TV. My wife and I had talked about it already and had money set aside for it but had not committed to a purchase. On a random visit to Futureshop with my oldest daughter (just barely walking)… I saw one on sale – and it was a great sale. I borrowed a sales clerk’s phone, called my wife and talked her into it, and came home almost $1800 poorer, but with a great toy. We get great use out of this device, so it was a great buy for us, but I look back on that day and think I’m lucky I did get a great deal rather than just give Futureshop my money on an impulse buy.

What’s your worst impulse buy?

Impulse buying is easy when you visit electronics stores.  CalendarBudget offers online budget software that limits impulse buying by reminding you what electronics you have budgeted for, or not.  It is accessible on Android, iOS and Web Browsers and uses 256-bit SSL encryption.  Start using the CalendarBudget personal finance app immediately.