preventing impulse buys with a thirty day purchase list: did it work for me?

Earlier this year, I decided to try out a '30 day purchase list'. This is where I'd place each item I wanted to impulse buy onto a list and then revisit it thirty days later to determine if the said item was still wanted. At first, this seemed like a great idea but it meant checking the list regularly - something I just didn't have time for!

What did work was that this prevented impulse buys and as a result, I've been spending an awful lot less.

Instead of a thirty day purchase list, I've just kept a 'wants' list of everything. The only time I refer to this list is to add something to it or when I finish an item that needs replacing. Before buying a replacement, this list is consulted to see if there was anything of the same type/category that I wanted to try. This kind of list works extremely well for make up, beauty products and, to an extent, stationery products. My list is ridiculously long now but the good thing is that, in the long run, I'll end up saving a fair bit of money by avoiding the accumulation of half-used products so I can try something new.

Here is what my (messy) list looks like:

The list will always be longer than I can get through my current collection of beauty and make-up products but that's ok. It's not intended to be one where everything gets crossed off one by one; it's purely here to prevent impulse purchases and more informed ones.

Do you have any anti-spending strategies that work for you?