You created a budget and made your shopping list. You strictly told yourself that if an item wasn’t written on this list, it wasn’t going into your cart. But then you got to the store and everything changed. MSNBC reports that the 2012 Shopper Engagement Study reveals that 76 percent of the average shopper’s purchase decisions are made in the store.

“What you find is that people will tell you they plan to do one thing, but their actual behavior will be quite different,” Richard Winter, president of Point of Purchase Advertising International said to MSNBC. Point of Purchase is the marketing association that conducted the survey.

It seems that over the years people are losing their discipline–the study also observed that this percentage is an all-time high. The study interviewed 2,400 shoppers as they were about to shop and after their shopping trip was over.

Females are especially susceptible to store displays which often persuade them to change their minds from a favorite brand to another product. On top of it all, a large number of people actually leave the store without buying everything on the list, whether it’s because they forgot or the price wasn’t what they expected.

But all this unplanned spending comes with a high price tag for consumers. So what can you do to make sure you stay in-line?

Pay with cash. The study also found that those who pay with credit or debit cards are more likely to spend more money. Not only does cash place a limit on how much you’re able to spend, when you can physically see the money leaving your pocket, you’re less likely to spend.

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(Smart Money) — In a new round of pitches in the mail, online and the phone, lenders are offering to help consumers manage their money – that is, if they’ll just sign up for a credit card.  Coming from companies that make much of their money when customers spend with abandon, it’s an incongruous pitch. And yet, a card launched this week by TD Bank is just one of three new offerings that promise to help users pay down debt; Chase’s Blueprint promises to help cardholders manage their daily spending and budget for big purchases. Another pair of cards says it will help parents teach teens to use plastic responsibly. “Their new marketing tactic is that they’re your ally,” says Bill Hardekopf, chief executive at LowCards.com, which tracks credit card offers.  Some are aggressively pushing these products, too: Chase’s Slate card with Blueprint counts for 7% of all credit-card mail offers during the fourth quarter of 2010, up from less than 0.5% during the third quarter 2009 when it first launched, according to Synovate Mail Monitor, which tracks credit card mail. And American Express says it’s inserting pitches for its teen prepaid card in monthly billing statements received by parents who are existing card members.  The offers are clearly aimed at soothing consumers’ lingering anxieties about using their credit cards. Because while customers are starting to charge again, they’re not back to pre-recession levels – for example, purchase volume at Visa, the largest credit card network, totaled $599 billion for the 12 months ending June 30, still down 4% compared to the same period in 2007. As they slowly return to buying on credit, these card offers are banks’ efforts to increase consumers’ trust so that they keep using their cards, says Hardekopf.

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