Consumer Scoring
I’m not a big fan of shopping, and more or less loathe the idea of it as an entertainment activity. That didn’t stop me from coming up with a scoring system for it, one which could conceivably be useful in restraining spending.
This came to me in Portland, at Powell’s, and was originally meant for books, but can really be used for anything.
It’s very simple, and is a game you play against the store you’re shopping in. The scores start at zero each. For every item that you buy that you had intended to buy prior to entering, you get a point. For every item you buy that you had not intended to buy prior to entering, the store gets a point. Higher score at the point when you leave wins.
I drew with Powell’s, two–two, when I first came up with this. I have read (and would recommend) the two books I had intended to buy (The Inner Game of Tennis and Influence), while the two impulse purchases languish, thus far untouched.