I can’t put my finger on why, but like most American women one of my main obsessions as I near my forties is maintaining my ‘youthful’ looks. Maybe its the media, or society or some other thing acting on my mind. I am sure I could write another 10 articles on that topic alone.

Anyway on a number of occasions I know me and a few of my girls, in our quest for ‘youth’ have ended up paying stupid prices for the ‘next best thing’.
Looking back on it, I have nearly always made the silliest purchases, and wasted money on this type of stuff when I am feeling upset, or down about something.
I remember spending close to $2000 on a few courses of laser face lifting surgery a few years back, after the break up of my marriage.

I think the people who market these  target us when we are feeling particularly emotionally down, because they know we are much more likely to buy them then.

After spending wasting a lot of money on these ‘potions’, I always do 3 things now before I buy any new product, to stop myself wasting money, and to also make sure I am getting a good deal.
I have listed these 3 tips below. I hope they help you as much as they have helped me.

1) Always see if you can try the product before you buy it. A lot of these treatments are now offering free trials. For example the anti ageing treatment that I have used for the past 14 months is offering a 30 day free trial.
If you can’t find a free trial of the product you are thinking of buying go into a few different  cosmetics stores over a number of days and ‘try’ it out. This is cheeky but, I have got away with it and saved myself a lot of money.

2) Never buy a product without checking if you can get it for cheaper elsewhere. My younger sister put this app on my phone that scans barcodes and then checks the internet if you can get anything for cheaper…..genius, I can’t get enough of it. The shop attendants do occasionally scowl if they see me using it, but hey I can take it when I think of how much money its saved me. If you don’t have a phone with an app like this, use the internet. If you search for the product name it’l take you 2 minutes to see if its cheaper on the net. The one I use is called RedLaser.

3) Always wait at least one week to buy a treatment after finding out about it. I used to be such as sucker for impulse buying, and it cost me a fortune. I used to buy products and then a few days after feel like I’d committed a crime. I tend to find that if I wait a week, I have time to think about the treatment, and now I don’t end up buying around 3 quarters of the stuff I would have in the past.

Any way I hope you enjoyed my tips, and I hope they help you as much as they have helped me.