• Sleep on all big purchase decisions. Do the “48hour test” – wait for 48hours when you see something you want to buy to see if you still have the same desire for it after the a period of time has passed.
• Figure out how much your dream product or service will cost in work time – i.e. I get paid £5 an hour, the t-shirt costs £10 is it worth two hours of working?
• Keep a diary of what you spend. It’ll make it obvious what areas need to be cut down on and will surprise you to know exactly where your money is going, especially if you’re frequently withdrawing small amounts. You can use spendingdiary.com~ to record your spending, which will make it easy to review your spending.
• Leave your credit or debit cards at home and spend with cash – it’ll make you more aware of what you are spending as you will visibly see your cash pile reduce and disappear.
• Try and sell old items on eBay~ and use the money to make new purchases, effectively making it a neutral spend.
• Accept help from your friends or family in terms of their unwanted goods and hand-me-downs.
• Start a new hobby to occupy your time instead of going shopping on a Saturday afternoon or when you are bored.
• Pay yourself pocket money – allocate yourself a fun spend within your budget to ease your guilt when you do go “off the rails”.
• Collect spare change – stick any loose change into a Pringles tube or old-fashioned piggy bank. You'll be surprised to see it how it'll soon add up.
• Try not to follow the 20-80 rule. It is estimated that consumers wear 20% of their clothing 80% of the time.
• Have one non-spend day a week.

The following are a list of industry “truths” in relation to the tricks the retailers use to persuade you to shop and spend your money.

• Shops put dots on clothing labels or laundry labels of stock which is just about to be marked down for a sale. If you see something you want to buy with a dot on the label hold out for the sales.
• Student ID is invaluable. 10% off is still a discount.
• Go straight to store management if you have a complaint. If you have a pricing complaint in a supermarket don’t complain at the till, instead take the receipt to customer services. The supermarket policies mean they are extremely competent in dealing with mistakes – double the difference, refund and replace etc.
• If you are complaining in any shopping situation and you accept what is offered to you – the case is closed. Make sure you know this before you make a final decision.
• Remember inconvenience costs. If a store leaves a security tag on and you have to come all the way back into town, ask for refunds on your travel expenses, especially if the purchase was for a special event such as a graduation ball.
• If you have a special event and want the “must have” product but without the price tag then consider hiring the bag/dress/shoes for the day. Fashionhire.co.uk~ loans the most up-to-date handbags for short of period of times as does handbaghirehq.co.uk~