Avoiding Impulse Spending
Posted by Su Sheng Loong on 08 May 2008 at 08:39 pm | Tagged as: Personal Finance
Answer these questions truthfully:
1.) Does your spouse or partner complain that you spend too much money?
2.) Are you surprised each month when your credit card bill arrives at how much more you charged than you thought you had?
3.) Do you have more shoes and clothes in your closet than you could ever possibly wear?
4.) Do you own every new gadget before it has time to collect dust on a retailer’s shelf?
5.) Do you buy things you didn’t know you wanted until you saw them on display in a store?
If you answered “yes” to any two of the above questions, you are an impulse spender and indulge yourself in retail therapy.
This is not a good thing. It will prevent you from saving for the important things like a house, a new car, a vacation or retirement. You must set some financial goals and resist spending money on items that really don’t matter in the long run.
Impulse spending will not only put a strain on your finances but your relationships, as well. To overcome the problem, the first thing to do is learn to separate your needs from your wants.
Advertisers blitz us hawking their products at us 24/7. The trick is to give yourself a cooling-off period before you buy anything that you have not planned for.
When you go shopping, make a list and take only enough cash to pay for what you have planned to buy. Leave your credit cards at home.
If you see something you think you really need, give yourself two weeks to decide if it is really something you need or something you can easily do without. By following this simple solution, you will mend your financial fences and your relationships.
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these questions sounds more like after marriage type.. hehe…
sometimes terpaksa buy leh..
like during CNY, actually i dun wan buy new clothes de.. but then the old ppl will scold de.. say CNY everything must new new.. its more towards culture issue liao.. so terpaksa buy..
hehe… do u buy new clothes during CNY or u just wear back those u seldom wear wan?
Teddy, you are right. This post is not supposed to be read by young people like us because the five questions were actually extracted from other articles. But I think certain points in this article are good for us as well. So I just share it here with every readers.
Normally I will just buy one new shirt and that’s it. Besides, the shirt I buy is usually less than RM50. I am not like those young people who wear nice and trendy clothes everyday. I would rather spend the money on the investment or to fund my future Internet business.
You sound stingy. Lol that is what some people will call me. But I agree with you… We must plan our spend by going through our budget and buying list. Choose only the things you need and if you don’t need it, then don’t buy it.
How to choose the ones you need and the one you don’t? Easy. Let put it this way :
If you don’t buy it will it cause you anything? Lets give example on clothing. If you buy cloth because you really need it since you bought them last like years ago, then its a need. But if you just buy it because its nice or beautiful, then its a waste and you are a big spender.
Credit cards are silent killer. Don’t use them.
Hi Faisal,
What you said is really true. We have to consider whether the thing we want to buy is necessary or not. Sometimes we buy things not because we need it, but just because it attracts you or the price is cheap.
That’s why I use a debit card instead of credit card!:)
I’m not an impulse spender for the simple reason of me not having any money to spend.
Yeap, I’m poor. =(
Hi Ezra,
Do you know that they are people who are impulse spenders and yet are poor? Of course you are not that type of person but these people really exist.