How To Trick Yourself Out Of Impulse Buying

For some consumers, it’s becoming harder to downplay promotional deals on products and goods as the price of everyday items continues to rise and many see their budgets being stretched thin.

Despite the challenging conditions consumers are facing with the cost of living crisis, many are struggling to overcome the difficulty of turning down impulse purchases, easily deviating from their monthly budgets, and splashing cash on unnecessary items.

The current economic climate has almost made impulse buying a necessity, rather than that once-in-a-while luxury. Finding an affordable deal, whether it’s on clothing, shoes, groceries, or electronics, consumers often feel conditioned to purchase something, whether to save a bit of money or because prices might go up again in the near future.

Impulse buying goes beyond cutting out that trip to the coffee shop when you feel like it or ignoring promotional deals while strolling through an outlet mall. These actions are only a scratch on the surface. Impulse buying can be a personality trait or even be linked to psychological behavior.

The trick to overcoming impulse buying, well, is to trick yourself out of it. Sounds easy right? Well, there are a few things we need to understand before we can successfully keep impulse purchases at bay while taming out personal finances.

Impulse Buying Says A Lot About You

Buying something on a whim without giving it much thought isn’t the work of big corporate brands trying to trick you into spending more money - at least they’re not the only ones trying to trick you into dishing out more of your paycheck.

Research suggests that impulse purchases are caused by the sensory experience we encounter while shopping. The store atmosphere, the design and layout of products, and even the music that’s being played. The in-store experience often stimulates one of our five senses, which indirectly helps to encourage our purchasing decisions.

According to one research paper from 2018, “impulse purchases occur when there is a sudden and strong emotional desire, which arises from a reactive behavior that is characterized by low cognitive control.”

The tendency to buy, without explanation, comes from the reflection of immediate gratification, which links to our neurological sensors, making us feel satisfied and happy about our purchases. However, this feeling is temporary, and often wanes after a couple of hours, leaving you feeling remorseful about your decisions, which is often referred to as “buyer's remorse.”

Outside of this, experts believe that personality traits can play an important role in impulse buying behavior. Researchers have found that individuals with low levels of self-esteem , high levels of anxiety, negative mood, and depression often tend to develop some form of obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The negative consequences a person may have experienced can trigger compulsive behaviors which can become chronic and pathological. Instead, it’s important to consider that impulse buying is more a cause or lack of emotional control generated by inward conflict, rather than the catchy jingles playing in stores or flashy promotional ads we see on the internet.

Taming The Beast And Taking Control

Finding a workable solution requires you to identify the problem and muster up the courage to overcome the urge to make impulsive purchasing decisions. Individuals struggling with deeper psychological and cognitive problems can reach out to a professional or consult with a friend or relative.

For those of us struggling to overcome budget deviation or making unplanned purchases, there are some important exercises you can try before heading to the store or while shopping around for something specific.

Avoid social media and online shopping

We’re easy to convince and influence. Social media has become a pseudo-like online shopping platform that shows us the things we need to have to feel happier and live a better life. However, these activities of mindless scrolling have only led us to be pressured into making more unnecessary purchases or buying more stuff we don’t need without giving it much thought.

More than this, social media has become a hotbed for online retail scams. The 2024 scam survival guide by ExpressVPN emphasizes that social media has become filled with fake online stores and malicious fraudsters posting misleading content to influence consumers into clicky sketchy links or providing sensitive information.

Sure it’s not possible to completely cut out social media from our daily lives, however small gestures such as unfollowing influencers, removing accounts that don’t serve your financial objective, or closing online shopping subscriptions could be the push you need. By gradually minimizing external influences, you can lower your need for material clout.

Buying decisions and stress don’t mix

We all have different ways of dealing with stress. Our stress can be related to our jobs, families, health, and most importantly, finances. Despite what we’ve been told, stress and retail therapy do not mix. In fact, one peer-reviewed study revealed that stress and perceived financial insecurity can cause panic buying and more frequent therapeutic shopping.

Dealing with stress, or having to overcome stressful situations can lead us to look to the nearest coping mechanism, however, retail therapy can be a costly, and potentially financially damming solution.

Instead, it’s possible to try using alternative coping mechanisms. The CDC recommends eating well-balanced meals or following a regular exercise routine. Additionally, it’s important to get plenty of sleep or to try to meditate, stretch, and take deep breaths. You can also write out your thoughts, such as journaling, or even record yourself as a way of relieving your stress.

Pay attention to your buying behavior

Another place to look when trying to overcome impulse purchases is by considering your buying behavior and what has led you to make this decision. Often our decisions are influenced by social pressure or the feeling that we’re missing out on a rare promotional deal that won’t come along again.

Multiple things may influence our buying behavior, however, it’s important to take some time and think about the things that have led us down this path and how can we mitigate this from happening again.

By making more conscious decisions, you’ll have the ability to think about your purchases and consider whether these items are essential or are simply the outcomes of being pressured to make a rushed decision.

Control your expectations

There are many reasons to feel excited about making a new purchase - whether you’re buying a new computer or even new work attire. Yet, there are those instances where we’ve built up our expectations about something only to be somewhat disappointed the day it arrives at our door or we try it on for the first time.

Being disappointed in our purchasing decision is normal, and the feeling of having to either return something or worse, have it sitting around without making much use of it can leave you feeling remorseful.

A simple way to avoid this from happening is by managing your expectations by doing things such as reading reviews about a specific product. You can engage with fellow individuals through community forums such as Reddit or watch a YouTube video. By being more informed beforehand, you restrict yourself from having to make regretful purchases, but better manage your expectations as well.

Have at least some spending rules

Living with rules isn’t much fun when you’re making your own money, however, sometimes this is necessary to help you get back on track with your spending habits and avoid impulse purchases.

By setting some ground rules for yourself or your household you will learn how to work more effectively with your money, while also having the ability to plan more strategically.

Things such as having a savings goal, or setting up a designated savings account. Making a habit of using your disposable income to put towards a big-ticket purchase such as making a downpayment for a house or even paying for an overseas holiday.

Your rules can be anything you’re comfortable with and align with your monthly budget. More importantly, make these rules work for your needs and overall financial goals.

Consult with others about purchase decisions

Not sure whether you should purchase those new boots? Have trouble deciding whether you should purchase a new iPhone right now or rather save that cash and put it towards something more important?

Having open conversations about your purchase decisions can help shine light from a different angle, meaning that you can approach your retail choices from a new perspective. By allowing yourself time to think and talk to others about a specific purchase, you begin to minimize the noise surrounding making impulse purchases and focus on the near-term outcomes of your decisions.

Final Thoughts

Impulse buying is more about the external stimuli we experience on a day-to-day basis than we might think. More than this, making impulse retail decisions is closely related to our personal and psychological behavior and can say a lot about us as a person.

By understanding where this stimulation is coming from, and which proactive measures we can use to overcome the influence of having to make impulsive buying decisions, we can gradually begin to work on managing our personal finances more effectively, limiting our expenses, and having more money in our pockets at the end of each paycheck.

By Jaime Catmull, Contributor