I spend a lot of time online. Sitting in front of a computer for 10-12 hours a day can be both exciting and lonely. Exciting because I love working online; lonely because I am in my own little virtual world. As it turns out, the combination of this has me just a little addicted to online shopping. It is a relative thing because if you pay your bills on time can you really be considered to have an addiction? And if yes, how can you get on top of it? Do you really want to know how to block online shopping?
Goodbye sweaty fitting rooms
I usually spend a couple of hundred dollars a week at several of the most popular online stores – Amazon, Ebay and maybe a bit on The Home Depot. There is always some gadget that I find useful for the home, and as for Amazon, they are always getting in new products and upgraded models. I recently read where Amazon gets about 75 percent of all online sales. That is no surprise to me since I love going there – just ordered some new very cool headphones:-)
According to a report from Goldman Sachs millennials (ages 25 to 34) are more likely than any other generation to spend most of their clothing budget online. That’s no surprise for me either – I hate going in big fashion stores, queueing up for the sweaty smelling fitting rooms and fighting for the last pair of jeans in my size. I think most men don’t like shopping. Right? I ordered my last pair of jeans online… around midnight… without all the hustle.
Amazon is one thing, but I shop at a lot of the smaller online stores too, mainly just to browse around. Mostly I get more than 100 emails a day from third party companies that escape the spam filter on my mailbox. I spend smaller amounts on a few of these stores because they might have some one-of-a-kind item that I like or maybe makes a good birthday present. Here are 2 reasons why I don’t really want to block online shopping totally:
It’s relaxing
One of the hardest things to do is to not let my shopping get in the way of my work. My system is to carve out a couple of hours in the middle of the day to take a break from my work, grab a sandwich, and get lost in the world of shopping. It definitely relaxes me.
It’s necessary
Well, I find online shopping also necessary. Especially when it comes to groceries. So many big grocery stores offer online shopping and delivery. This makes my life so easy and I save so much time. I don’t have to leave the house, find a parking lot, queue at the checkout counter with hundreds of people in front of me and lift the heavy bags from the booth of my car to the kitchen. With a few clicks my weekly shopping is done. Thanks to online shopping 24/7 I can have the grocery delivery any time of the day or night.
Anyway, I start to feel a bit guilty about the time I spend on online shopping. Eventually it’s better to know how to block online shopping, right?
2 Ways how to block online shopping
1. Unsubscribe from the newsletters
You probably know this situation: You buy something and at the checkout you have to subscribe to the newsletter to get a discount. Well, that’s ok, but after a few days – or sometimes hours- you get a load of emails. A welcome email, a thank -you-for-signing-up email, a sales email, a weekly newsletter and so on. When you suffer from FOMO (Fear of missing out) it’s hard to unsubscribe, but it really slows you down in getting things done. So take this step and unsubscribe! Try the service unroll.me to clear up your inbox. I bet you will get a so-sorry-to-see-you-go unsubscribe email.
2. How to block online shopping websites
As you can see online shopping has become somewhat of a bad habit for me, but I’m not alone. I’m not seeing the harm but spending $1000 a month has turned my attic into a storage shed. My friend jokingly says I am a candidate for Hoarders. But I have to admit going online and shopping around is easy, especially with a fast Internet connection.
For some people though online shopping can be an addiction, I guess. Also the amount of time I am spending shopping is cutting into the best use of my time. That’s where a website blocker comes in. FocusMe comes with a time limiter and launch limiter. I can block all these online shops and allow probably twice a day a peek of 20 mins. These 20 mins give me an impression of what’s up-to-date and trending. I also can tick the weekly grocery shopping from my to-do list. And after that – I’m back on track and focus on my work.
Let’s say I can manage my addiction;-)
Online shopping has always been my weakness from the moment I got my first paypal when I was 18. I’ve been struggling with it for years! Now I have focusme and I discovered that I could block myself from the savings account of my bank account. I can also block transfers from that account. This is an awesome discovery! Now I won’t be able to dip into them like I used to and I can restrict my browsing too!
Here is the tip. I discovered the ksafe time locking container and use it to put my passwords in so that I cannot login to focusme to change the settings! I also use it to block any of the websites that I don’t want to access (although this does backfire sometimes as you can reset your password if you are desperate). I hope this will help someone!
I just wish there was a way of blocking all shopping websites altogether, then I could stop myself browsing.
amazing points to block online shopping websites