Impulse Buying

Sharon87 · 15 July 2015 at 2:02PM

So I'm trying to pay off my credit cards and build up some emergency savings, but the biggest thing that's setting me back is buying things on impulse!

Anybody else had problems with this?

It could be gig tickets, CDs, clothes or anything else. It's just that I sometimes have this whim to buy the item!

I have stopped buying some things on impulse - like when I found out mates of mine were going to this festival, it was tempting to buy tickets but I've resisted and now I have plans for the date of the festival, so that's stopped me from buying the tickets. So that's probably around £500 I've not lost from the tickets, travel and spending money!

How do the people of MSE control their impulse buying? Any tips?

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ShirePiskie · 15 July 2015 at 2:39PM

Hi!

I actually have a 'shenanigans' category in my budget - every month £20 is put aside (aside from my 'spending money'), so, as happened recently, I wanted to go and see The Stranglers playing near me and there was enough in the shenanigans pot... so I did.

Do I want to go and see Dave Gorman in January? Yes I do. Is there money in that pot? Yes. Ticket bought.

You KNOW you're going to want to spend on eg tickets, even if you don't know who you're going to see or when or where, so budget for it.

Obviously I appreciate depending on your circumstances you may not have £20 a month to just sit around waiting for something fun to happen.

Sharon87 · 15 July 2015 at 3:08PM

That's a good plan in theory. But I'm afraid I will use that early on and then buy something else!

I'm going to ebay some items and maybe that will take the 'buying' impulse away with selling stuff instead!

What's weird is I never use to impulse buy. I always thought things through, mostly because I had no money then and had to think carefully about where things went. But I missed out on items/gigs/clothes. So that's probably why I impulse buy, I'm afraid of missing out on things!

poppasmurf_bewdley · 15 July 2015 at 3:15PM

My way on not buying on impulse is to decide how much I need to spend in a week and take that amount out in cash, and leave my cards at home.

I usually have some left over at the end of the week, and that goes into the savings account.

You are the only one who can stop buying on impulse - you use that thing called self control.

lee111s · 15 July 2015 at 3:19PM

You need to grow up and stop being irresponsible with your money. If you're in debt and can't stop spending, you need to have a serious word with yourself.

The alternative is to pay all of your debts as soon as you're paid and only leave yourself enough money for your essentials such as food/travel to work etc.

I'm not saying don't have fun, you need to budget for this, but if you're spending too much on entertainment and not enough on your debts, then you're not really that bothered about paying off your debt.

Sorry to sound harsh but there's no excuse really.

Sharon87 · 15 July 2015 at 3:20PM

That would be good, except most of my impulse shopping is online!

The only thing that stops me spending money is having no money in my bank account. But I hate not having a safety net of say an overdraft or savings, just in case I have a big issue or can't find a job (I work fixed term contracts).

When I'm in the right frame of mind I can be good, it's just those times when I'm like 'I love that top' or 'I really want that new album' or something's on sale that I want. I just need to learn to stop myself from clicking 'buy'

Sharon87 · 15 July 2015 at 3:24PM

lee111s wrote: »

You need to grow up and stop being irresponsible with your money. If you're in debt and can't stop spending, you need to have a serious word with yourself.

The alternative is to pay all of your debts as soon as you're paid and only leave yourself enough money for your essentials such as food/travel to work etc.

I'm not saying don't have fun, you need to budget for this, but if you're spending too much on entertainment and not enough on your debts, then you're not really that bothered about paying off your debt.

Sorry to sound harsh but there's no excuse really.

When I get paid, I usually work out how much I can afford to put towards my credit cards that month on top of the minimum and I pay that. The problem comes later in the month, I will buy something which puts me in my overdraft towards the end of the month.

I know it's self control, I'm just trying to find out how other people try to control it, to see if it will work for me!

poppasmurf_bewdley · 15 July 2015 at 3:31PM

Sharon87 wrote: »

I know it's self control, I'm just trying to find out how other people try to control it, to see if it will work for me!

Look back on all those things you've bought 'on impulse' over the last year, and ask yourself (a) if your life has been improved since having them, (b) add up how much you have spent in total, and (c) think what is left of them now.

My betting is that you have spent much more than you thought, and that you don't have much now to show for the spending. That alone should be enough to put you off.

engineer_amy · 15 July 2015 at 3:46PM

I woke up one Monday morning and decided I wanted a new car. By 6.30pm I had test driven the one I wanted and shook hands on an offer of £16K. that was my biggest impulse buy. I used to think nothing of just whipping out the credit card and buying anything that took my fancy. And in the majority of cases I had nothing to show for all the money I was spending.

However, what changed was I watched Martin Lewis explain about the interest that could be saved by overpaying on the mortgage. I joined this forum and signed up to the Mortgage free wannabe thread. Soon I was challenging myself to save as much as possible, and was seriously thinking about what I was buying and whether I actually needed it. Most off the time I was thinking "I could spend £50 on this pair of jeans to go out at the weekend, or I could wear one of the other 10 pairs of jeans that I own and pay no interest on this £50 off my mortgage" I was thinking about the other posters in the challenge "judging" me because I wouldn't meet my target. (they don't, by the way, everyone in the challenge threads are very supportive and encouraging)

So I would advise you to sign up to one of the challenges that suits you (pay off all your debt by Xmas, save £1000, whatever) and it will keep you motivated and on track to clear debt, or build savings. I find it is almost addictive trying to cut down your outgoings, save a little bit more each time and watch your debt go down and your numbers on the challenges go up

Sharon87 · 15 July 2015 at 4:09PM

Wow 16k, now I've never spent that amount ever on anything, let alone an impulse buy! The biggest impulse buy I've had has probably got to be a camera. My previous one broke months earlier and I was missing having a proper camera. So I bought one, in a shop - which is the first mistake! It was £200 and after a couple of months it got annoying. I wish I never made that impulse buy! I managed to sell it for a £100 6 months later. But I wish on a purchase like that I put more time into looking for one and saving for one.

I am in the position of missing a decent camera, but I have learnt from that experience and know not to rush into just buying one.

I will look at those questions popparsmurf. I know some purchases have improved my life and others haven't (camera being one of them). I will need to look back at my statements to see how much I've actually spent, it may take a while! Some of the items I've bought have been useful, others not so much.

Amy - as regards to interest it's only my overdraft interest that's a concern, all of my credit card debt is on 0% except about £1500 of it, which are on low interest life of balance (5.9% and 6.9%). I'm good at organising my debt, it's just not good that I've got debt in the first place. I am going to reduce my Natwest overdraft from £750 to £100 or £50, as it costs £6/month plus interest to use. I'm currently not using the overdraft, and hopefully this will make me see that I don't have that 'safety' money. It will be like my Halifax overdraft - I never ever use it because the charges are too high, but it's there as a safety net, just in case I accidently go into the overdraft (£1/day is better than £5/day).

greensalad · 15 July 2015 at 4:44PM

The biggest thing that has helped me with my impulse spending is writing down a list of what I need AND also putting in a healthy contingency.

Initially the contingency was large. As time has gone by, I've been able to reduce it. But I still have a decent sized 'misc' pot on my budget because I think it's foolish to think I'll go a whole month not buying a single thing not on my list.

Even if you don't know what it will be, knowing you've got £50 in a pot to spend on impulse items will reign your spending in more than saying no to everything.

It's like dieting. If you say you're never going to eat a chocolate bar again, you'll fail. If you say you're going to have 1 chocolate bar a month you'll probably succeed.

Impulse Buying

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