They say that if you truly love someone you need to let them go, and if they love you they’ll come back. I’ve never applied this in real life, but I live by it when it comes to shopping.

If you go around buying up everything you see that gets your fancy tickled, then you’ll end up with a lot of empty space in your wallet (and the reputation of being “easy” to please). But if you take a different approach, like walking away from something you love, then it’s truly a test of how much you want it.

I do this all the time. I saw something over the weekend that I liked, but instead of snatching it up I’m giving it some space-playing hard to get with the hope that if the item lingered in my mind a day later (which it has) then it’s worth buying. If that doesn’t happen and you can’t even remember the color of the necklace you saw that in the moment you couldn’t live without, then it wasn’t worth it.

This will save you time agonizing over things, and money (and not to mention valuable closet space).

The only time I don’t recommend this little cat and mouse game is when there is only one item left, because then you don’t have the upper hand and the chances of you missing out are great. If that is the case, learn what the store return policy is, or simply make your “walk away” distance shorter. Take a breather around the store and see if you’re still dreaming about it five minutes later.

You want to be sure of the things you buy and not just left with a whole bunch of things you liked at the time but will probably never wear.

Because you’re wise, you walk the line.