Are you trying to learn how to control your impulse spending? I think we can all agree that there is nothing better than the feeling of treating yourself to an indulgent purchase! Shopping is one of life’s greatest pleasures, but depending on your circumstances, it can also turn in to one of life’s biggest problems. If you are someone who tends to hit the stores when you know you don’t need anything, and always end up leaving with bags full of items, then you are definitely classed as an impulse spender. Impulse spending can have a really detrimental impact on your life if you allow your finances to get in to trouble. Here are some tips for how to control your impulse spending.
Hiding your credit cards is one of the top recommended how to control your impulse spending. If you can’t handle the feeling of your credit cards sitting there burning a hole in your pocket, then make the decision to lock them away in your house. If they are safely tucked away at home, then you won’t be able to do so much damage to your finances on short notice. It’s pretty simple, if your card isn’t in your wallet, then you won’t be able to whip it out on a whim!
If you tend to commit most of your biggest impulse crimes at the mall, then don’t go to the mall! Alternatively, if you are more of an Amazon addict, then give yourself a break by putting a block on the site in your internet settings. You might only consider visits to the mall or browsing sessions on Amazon as ways to waste time, but we all know that every time you do it, you end up dropping the big bucks.
Before you commit to any purchase, you need to ask yourself a set of honest questions. Is the item going to improve your life in a big way? Is it supposed to only make you feel better emotionally in the short term? Will it help you meet one of your life goals? Will it make your life easier? All of these are important things to consider before pulling the trigger.
Before you drop a ton of cash on unimportant items, try to remember that you have bigger goals for the year, maybe a holiday or a big event coming up, that you would be much better off spending the money on.
When you find something that you think you need, go away, take 30 minutes or so, and then come back to it to see if the justification stills stands. Sometimes you just need to resists that initial urge and then you will see that the purchase would have been completely unnecessary.