Impulse Buying!

chriz1000

I’m not actually in debt, but find this board a great help to stop me overspending. I know I have a problem, and if I was on a lower wage I would have most probably ended up in thousands of pounds debt.
My problem is impulse buying. I can quite happily be sitting at my computer reading a forum or web page, when I follow a link someone has posted! If I like the product it becomes my next must have purchase and usually within 5-30 mins I’ve got my credit card out and made the purchase! I’ve even bought products that cost as much as £2000 in such a way! Sometimes if I say to myself, no I must wait and see if I really want it for a day or two, it’s all I can think about for the next few days. Although this method has worked a couple of times!
I think my worst impulse buy was probably my car, I ended up spending £10,000 more than I planned to.
I’m pretty good with money in every other respect, I manage my bills well, don’t buy the most expensive brand names, budget well so I never go overdrawn or into debt. I go out for meals with my girlfriend twice a week, but we usually use tesco discount vouchers or BOGOF type vouchers.
I’m guessing some of you guys will have suffered from impulse buying at some point in your life, how did you overcome it?
As I said above, reading a lot of the posts in the debt free wannabe section have really helped as I can see the road that overspending leads to.

chriz1000

Actually one other thing I will add, Mystery shopping has really helped with my social side of things, as a lot of the meals/pubs/clubs I visit now will be on a mystery shopping assignment, so the money is reimbursed to be at the end of the month.
This has also helped a little with my impulse spending.

lynzpower

HAve you tried cutting your cards up, then if you REALLY want something you have to reorder the card.Maybe not that great with your switch card though

Ali-OK

Eek! I used to be an impulse shopper and it went back to when I was a teenager. I saw a racing bike in metallic red in the shop in town and wanted it. My parents said no, I'd got a perfectly good Raleigh Shopper (ooh, who's showing their age now!)

I pushed my Dad for a week and he agreed to buy it and I would pay him back £5 a week, I was working Saturdays and could do that.

We went to buy it and the red one had gone. I was devastated. Couldn't get another red one, only metallic blue, so I had that. That week I waited meant I didn't get what I really wanted.

My moral of that story was if you see what you want, buy it, as it might not be there if you leave it and go back another time. And the rest is history as they say.

So, my question is, can you pinpoint where the impulsiveness comes from? I resist impulses now based on if I shop around I'll get it cheaper elsewhere (which takes time) and always ask myself if its a need or a want. Anything in want generally gets kicked out!!

Mrs_Sparkle

I'm a eBay impulse shopper... I browse eBay when I'm bored and if I see something I have to have it. My only saving grace is that I have been selling things on eBay so usually I'm only using what's in my Paypal account BUT I should be using this for paying off my debt!

Maybe if you sold some of your old purchases that would ease the guilt about buying new stuff? But as long as you're not in debt- i.e. you're spending money you DO have rather than going further into the red- I don't think you have a huge problem. I'm assuming you work hard for your cash so to a certain extent you should enjoy it. As long as your purchases are actually being used, that is, and not sitting in a cupboard like some of my shoes are...

chriz1000

I think you may have hit the problem on the head there Ali! A lot of the items I want there and then are from auction sites or private sales. So I’m thinking to myself, if I don’t get that now it probably won’t be there in a few hours. Sometimes the item is just a few pounds cheaper on eBay than from the official vender, but I still tell myself if I don’t buy it now I won’t get such a good deal. I get a buzz from it too, almost like an adrenaline rush, which I know isn’t good.
When I was younger I was given £1 a week pocket money and did a paper round for £17 per week (7 days a week), if I wanted anything I would have to save, I saw offers come and go, sometimes missing out on what I was saving for.
I think my mum has always been a spendaholic, spending money very liberally and often on credit, I certainly remember the buzz she got from spending. My dad however is very conservative with his money usually saving it all to pay off my mums debt. I never really understood why my dad was so tight with the money until I got a bit older.

Ali-OK

You're right about the buzz, but I now get the buzz from finding BOGOFs or sale items - it's totally about getting something at the cheapest possible price, but only for needed items with the odd treat thrown in.

I also get a buzz out of not spending now, as a result of this, I'm making overpayments to my debt.

As you're not in debt, maybe you could transfer your buzz moments to saving. You have to tell yourself that the same product will be cheaper in a few months time or that they'll be a better model released later, etc. Move the justification of the purchase to the justification of why not to buy.

Repeat everything in your head at least 10 times of why you should not buy it. And make yourself feel good when you resist and bad when you buy.

Changing the thought processes isn't a quick job, but you have to start somewhere!

How about reading some of the money related books? Certainly Rich Dad, Poor Dad is a good one about spending on liabilities vs. assets and does help to see things in a different light.

You could try a spending diary - would the total spend of each day be a shock and a wake up call?

Good luck!

chriz1000

Cheers Ali, just bought the book for £3.25 on Amazon! Hopefully it will turn out to be an asset!

Molanole

I used to get the buzz from impulse buying (my car was an impulse buy too!) followed by a gut wrenchingly sick to the bottom of my stomach guilt trip.

I've managed to curb the miscellaneous spending by only having a tenner to spend in my purse each week and not taking my cards out with me. Yes, the first few times you remember at the checkout that you haven't got your cards and you'll just go and put it all back is a bit embarrasing but it goes away soon enough.

Now, as others have said, I get a buzz out of not spending and watching the debt balances come down. The only spending a tenner a week gives me the quick fix I crave though as the debt balance thing is a long term goal!

Queenie

chriz1000 wrote:

Cheers Ali, just bought the book for £3.25 on Amazon! Hopefully it will turn out to be an asset!

You forgot the "can I get it cheaper" angle ... books you should get from your library

As your impulse buys tend to be online, the main way to stop *your* impulse buying would be to have something to do other than surf ebay. Being on the computer in itself can be addictive so you need to find some way of restricting your available time. I'm afraid the only way I can curb my online time is by ...

... turning the computer off

Molanole

Queenie wrote:

I'm afraid the only way I can curb my online time is by ...

... turning the computer off

Or by becoming addicted to this site instead! :money: :money: :money: