Harvard Business Review wants me to renew my subscription for £85. I’m waffling. I feel very frugal at the moment, not wanting to spend money. On the other hand, I really love reading HBR, and it may prove valuable in my consultancy work. But £85 feels like a lot of money.
My husband suggested I take The Stranger Test. He saw this on Life Hacker. It was touted as a way to manage your tendencies to make expensive impulse purchases.
If a stranger came to me and offered me £85, but that meant I couldn’t have the HBR delivered to my door for a year, what would I do?
I’d take the subscription over £85. In fact, I’d for sure take the subscription until the price got nearer to £125. But don’t tell the publishers that!
We followed the same route when considering whether to upgrade our cable box to V+. (A bargain at £49.99, not worth it at £99.99)
Why not give it a try? Yes, it can help you with your impulse purchases. But I find that it helps me decide about all sorts of things. It helps me by giving me a tool I can use to discover exactly how much I value something. From Belgian chocolates to tumble dryers.
See more: The Stranger Test
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As a terrible impulse spender, I’m very interested in this – it is really good and works. I tried it first on a potential purchase of only £10 and it made me realise I didn’t want it that much after all. So simple yet so effective. Thanks Debby!
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