I used to spend money on all sorts without really thinking about it. Advertisings techniques influences us to spend more and online shopping makes it convenient and easy to buy without leaving your house. If you fail to control your spending desires it can lead to overspending and debt.
These days I challenge myself not to spend my cash on unnecessary stuff. I avoid chasing new tech upgrades, buying the top brand names in fashion and food and hottest game releases.
I think we all have some kind of spending weakness, act on impulse buys and make misjudgements on what we spend our money on. We’ve all bought something we regretted purchasing afterwards or bought more than originally intended.
Now before I buy something I stop to think – do I really need it, can I wait and will I use it and gain value from the purchase? If I still need and want it can I buy it cheaper somewhere else or even second hand. That buying pause can save you money and find you better deals. It also helps reduce impulse buying.
Setting new shopping rules will save you a fortune and empowered you to pay off debt quicker. When you are out shopping it’s easy to spend without even thinking a purchase through. Mainly because going shopping for stuff makes us feel good. It’s nice to buy something we want or the stuff we believe we deserve as a treat.
Marketing tactics persuade us to spend, boredom encourages us entertain ourselves, competition with the next door neighbours, friends and family tempt us to buy things and keep upgrading, all causing us to act on our spending impulses.
And if you don’t have the cash then debt steps in so you can buy it. Shopping trips get very costly when you use borrowed money to buy things. Sure it feels nice to buy things you want but what is the real price tag long term?
As a result we end up trapped in the cycle of debt, working longer to waste money on interest payments that suck are wealthy away. That’s not really financial freedom that’s a formula for financial failure.
To combat this you need to be strong. You need to learn how to be more frugal and thoughtful with your cash. You need to learn how to say “NO”. The inability to stop overspending is a downfall that will cost you more than money. When you head off to the shops or browse the Internet for special offers you have to set limits and rules in place.
For example, you may use cash only, have no spend weekends or even cut up your credit cards. Your new spending rules will help you to control your money better and avoid racking up more debt.
Thanks to impulse buying there are lots of things I wish I hadn’t bought with or without using debt to fund the purchase. I’ve wasted thousands on buying junk instead of seeing the bigger financial picture.
What about you do you spend money without thinking? What have you bought that you wish you hadn’t?
