Impulse Buying

Sharon87

1 chocolate bar a month? Lol - I'm also trying to lose weight, so I know how hard even 1 chocolate bar a month is!

I don't tend to budget every pound of my pay. I usually do a rough budget of say x amount for food, x amound for travel, x amount for debt. I usually find myself with extra money I haven't budgetted for, even adding extra payments for debts. But instead of saving this for when I'm not working, I spend most of it! So I may have say £1600 income and £1300 expenditure. It would be nice to put that £300 or most of it towards debt or savings.

Does anyone use an app to help their budgetting? I tend to do a budget, then not refer back to it, but if there was an app (IOS) it might be easier. I have an app for tracking my calorie intake, so one for tracking my spending may help!

engineer_amy

you need a budget (YNAB) is available for IOS. you can sync it between a PC and ipad/iphone. I found it easiest to set up the budget on the PC as there is a lot of customising to be done, then day by day or week by week you can just add your spending to it via the phone to keep it up to date. it is a paid for program, but you can do a free trial for 34 days to see if it will work for you.

greensalad

Sharon87 wrote: »

I don't tend to budget every pound of my pay.

Then you're doin' it wrong.

Sharon87 wrote: »

But instead of saving this for when I'm not working, I spend most of it! So I may have say £1600 income and £1300 expenditure. It would be nice to put that £300 or most of it towards debt or savings.

Then stick it in an account where it's not part of your daily finances.

Sharon87 wrote: »

Does anyone use an app to help their budgetting? I tend to do a budget, then not refer back to it, but if there was an app (IOS) it might be easier. I have an app for tracking my calorie intake, so one for tracking my spending may help!

Yep, You Need A Budget. It's an app (desktop, iOS, Android) but it's also a philosophy and they have great support webinars and information about how the whole thing works. One of their mantras is to 'budget every £' - so make sure every £ you have has an allotted budget category.

That category could simply be 'miscellaneous expenses' but at least you've given yourself a budget.

I think you need to change your attitude to create a plan and stick to it. Not easy, I know, but you need to do it.

lee111s

You mentioned going into your o/d for online impulse buys....how about get rid of your o/d? If you don't have the money available, you simply cannot spend it.

-taff

Or block the websites you're spending money on

[Deleted User]

if people are impulse shopping on the high st the trick is not to go there,if they do the same online then stay away from online retailers
im afraid its the only cure that works well

Sharon87

Looks like I have another incentive to not spend on impulses - my landlord needs us out the house by end of October! Which means I have to move in 3 months.

I will look at the budget app to see if it'll work for me.

lee111s

You have the wrong attitude. Don't see if it'll work for you, make it work for you.

By tracking and knowing where you're money is going is the only way you'll get some realisation of where you're wasting money.

pineconesjay

I know what it's like to want to pay down debt but still have things pop up that you 'just need' to buy.
It's why I've been in debt so long...
It's very easy to say "just exercise self control", but it's not so easy to do... if we had strong willpower we wouldn't be in debt, right?
I don't know if you've read this guy's blog, but it's the biggest thing that has made a difference to my finances - excuse the language - but the advice is brilliant and just reading one of his posts can strengthen my resolve to not make a purchase.
See this: (it even makes the connection between being in debt and being overweight)
http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/04/18/news-flash-your-debt-is-an-emergency/

[Deleted User]

My biggest impulse buy was a subwoofer for a home cinema system I was building up when I was younger and no mortgage etc... It cost £800 and all it does is produce low frequency sound. I remember saying to the shop owner 'put it in a bag' like a Cocky kid... Still have it to this day 20 years later and will never sell it., I cant... Cost too much !!! The shop keeper probably rolled down the shutters and had half day after I walked out. Mind you ... The shop had big windows so he saw me coming.