An impulse purchase will give you a temporary thrill. The moment that you buy it, you feel elated, but soon after, that feeling wears off. You might even wonder why you decided to spend your money on the item in the first place. It was a waste.
How can you stop this bad habit?
Table of Contents
1. Leave It in the Cart:
When you’re online shopping, you should leave products in the cart before you purchase them. Let them sit in the cart for a day or two. You might find that you’re not as excited to go through with the purchase once that wait time is over. So, you can empty your cart and save money.
2. Make Lists:
Before shopping, write a list of all the products you should buy. Having this set of guidelines should keep you focused on purchasing what you need instead of wandering around the store and grabbing anything that catches your attention.
3. Stop Saving Your Details:
Online retailers make it really easy to make impulse purchases. Their pages often save your credit card information, billing address, shipping address, and account password so you can buy their items in a few clicks.
Remove these details from online retailers. You can also remove auto-filled credit card information from your web browsers. Doing this should make it harder to spend online without thinking.
4. Unfollow Retailers:
Do you follow a lot of retailers on social media? Do you subscribe to their online newsletters? Do you get emails about special promotions and sales? These are going to tempt you to spend impulsively.
So, you should unfollow retailers on social media. At the very least, mute their accounts so that you don’t see their updates. Unsubscribe from their online newsletters and promotional emails. If you really want to fight the temptation to shop online, you can use website-blocking extensions to cut off your access to these retailers on your devices. Then you won’t be able to browse online.
5. Find Better Ways to Cope:
Impulse spending can make you feel better when you’re bored, stressed, or sad, but it’s not a good coping mechanism emotionally or financially.
There are healthier coping mechanisms you can turn to when you need some emotional relief. If you’re bored, get moving and go for a walk. If you’re stressed, listen to relaxing music and meditate. If you’re sad, call up a close friend and catch up. These activities should make you feel better without hurting your wallet.
The Problem with Impulse Spending
Making an impulse purchase once in a while is nothing to worry about. Sometimes you get caught up in the excitement of shopping and add something to your cart that you don’t really need. If you really don’t like the item, you can try to return it to the store for cash or store credit. Or you can give it to someone who will appreciate it. It’s not a huge loss.
Impulse purchases are a problem when you make them often. You’re always buying things on a whim and regretting it later. This bad habit could lead to some serious trouble down the line. You might upend your budget or deplete your savings because you keep spending without thinking. You might not be able to afford an urgent expense that pops up out of the blue — all because you spent your savings on a shopping spree earlier in the week.
If you don’t have enough savings to cover an urgent expense, don’t panic. There are options. You could use your credit to cover it or try to apply for an online loan.
When searching for online loans, make sure they are available in your home state. So, if you live in Madison, you should look up loans in Wisconsin to help you with your emergency. You’ll know that these loans are accessible to residents in Wisconsin. If you meet all of the other loan qualifications, you can apply. You just might get approved for this borrowing option.
Online loans should only be used for emergencies. They’re not meant for everyday expenses — or worse, impulse purchases.
Your habit of impulse spending can get you into financial trouble. So, follow these tips and stop the habit for good!
Featured Photo by Karolina Grabowska: https://www.pexels.com
