I don’t know about all of you but I personally have been stressing out over trying to find the perfect gifts to give for Christmas this year. I take giving gifts seriously because I want my gifts to reflect how much I love people. I want them to be personal and thoughtful. So when the time is short and the pressure is on it often feels impossible to have the time to get thoughtful gifts for every person.

It’s especially hard for me because I suffer from fear of buyer’s remorse of finding out later that I didn’t find the best product or get the best price so I end up getting totally obsessed with reading every review and comparing every option before I will settle on what to buy. The sad part is that I do as much research for a five dollar item as I do a five thousand dollar item. I will admit that I get totally ridiculous about it to the point I will spend hours and end up saving a few dollars or getting one extra add on feature, which is crazy because an hour of my time is worth so much more than what I get in return…and yet it’s a struggle…someone should start a support group for people who can’t make buying decisions until they have researched something literally to death first…I know I’m not the only one with the problem because I have a few friends and family members who can’t help themselves either…even though we all admit it is craziness!  We suffer from Purchasing Analysis Paralysis Disorder!

Some days I wish I could be more like my husband. He sees something and says “get it” case closed, he doesn’t give it a minute of thought. He values his time above all else and he refuses to waste it second guessing himself. When he finds the thing he wants he’s happy with it and never gives it another worry. I can’t imagine how freeing that must be for him…although if he had just spent five minute researching he might have saved a few dollars and gotten a few extra features…yikes!…there I go again.

Well I guess I should count my blessings that I only have Purchasing Analysis Paralysis Disorder and I don’t have the follow on disorder I like to call Post-Purchase Paranoia Disorder. These people will go so far as to check the internet even after they finally made their purchase and have received their product just so they can “double check” they really did get the best deal! I feel blessed that I don’t suffer with this additional disorder, but I know others who do and their struggle is real too (and you know who you are…).

I tried to find tips for overcoming Purchasing Analysis Paralysis Disorder and here is what I found:

1. Before you begin ask yourself what is the worst thing that can happen if you make the wrong purchase here. 90% of the time the answer is that it won’t impact your life hardly at all so remember that when you begin.

2.  Set a hard time limit for researching your purchase. Determine the time to a lot by the budget for the purchase – the smaller the purchase the smaller amount of time you should a lot to researching it.

3. Limit yourself to phoning just one trusted friend to ask their opinion. Not more than one, one.

4. If all else fails and you cannot control your analysis paralysis, delegate the purchase to someone you trust – tell them what you want and give them your amount you will spend and step away from the purchase. STEP AWAY FROM THE PURCHASE!

So on that front – anyone want to be in charge of buying my Christmas presents for me (tee hee)…like I said, the struggle is real.

Have a great day!

~Amy