to buy or not to buy

{For those of you on Twitter, or any hard-core Real Simple fans, you may already have seen this. But for the rest of the world, I thought this "Simple Tip" was worth sharing.}

Being that is definitely a good year for saving more and buying less (frugality is the new black, I guess you could say), it might help to ask yourself these four questions before buying an item and bringing it home:

1. Do you already own something that serves the same purpose?
2. If so, will you get rid of the older item and replace it with the newer one?
3. Will this make your life easier/fulfill a need/save time and money?
4. Have you researched to find the best product at the best price?

Maybe I'm the only one who will benefit from this tip but I'm thinking not. Way to often I find myself running into places like Target for a few listed items and I walk out with three times what I came in for.

P.S. Real Simple has announced it will be posting a new "Simple Tip" everyday for 2011. Yay!