#impulse spending

Money…….im broke……never been this broke…:::::I have a problem

Lock it up in between uses.

My preference is to wrap it up in opaque tape, put it in a ziplock bag full of water, then put the whole thing in the freezer. Obviously, make sure you don't have the numbers saved in your browser or written down anywhere else. This will FORCE you to slow down before making a purchase. You can't microwave it to defrost it (JFC DO NOT MICROWAVE YOUR CREDIT CARD). So while you're sitting there watching it slowly unfreeze, you can second-guess whatever impulse purchase you want to make.

Also, just because you're at high risk for gambling and addiction doesn't mean you automatically WILL succumb to those things. I know plenty of people genetically predisposed to things like alcoholism who don't struggle with that addiction. Have you considered talking to a therapist about your concerns here?

Here's more on how to use a credit card responsibly:

6 Proven Tactics for Avoiding Emotional Impulse Spending 

Shopping addictions or impulsive overspending is a really hard habit to break out of, and depending on your financial situation you can end up in really tough spots because of it.

As a general disclaimer: I am not a doctor or therapist, I'm just a mentally ill 24-year-old on the internet who's had issues with overspending (like a lot >-<) but hopefully, these tips can be of some use to you! I would also recommend looking for advice in other areas as well! Don't use this post as your only resource ^-^

♡ Overarching tips ♡

♡ Identify why you might have a shopping addiction. There are many different reasons for this! One thing that can help you identify the reasoning behind it is to analyze the emotions you feel when shopping. Do you feel frantic? Stressed? Really overly-excited? After you make the purchase how do you feel? Do you feel guilt? Shame? Regret? Relief? Super happy? Really analyze your feelings through the process and get a vibe for how it's making you feel. A lot of times shopping addiction develops as a way to cope with negative feelings. If you're feeling sad, stressed, or anxious, it's really tempting to buy yourself a "little treat" to make yourself feel better! But that can spiral into situations where any time you feel those negative emotions you feel a strong urge to go out and buy something to make those feelings go away, and a lot of times they'll come back even worse after the fact. If this is something that you think plays into your shopping addiction, you'll have to build up your resources for healthy coping mechanisms to give yourself alternatives to shopping when you feel down or anxious. Shopping addiction can also develop as a reaction to being in a poor financial situation. You can see this a lot with food and toiletries, but it can happen with other items as well. It makes sense that if someone has experienced food insecurity, once they have extra cash, they'll overstock on food to ensure they never run out again. That same logic applies to other aspects of life as well. If this is something that is playing into your shopping addiction you'll need to do some work into identifying places in your life that you feel the need to overstock on, why you feel that way, and how you can help minimize those feelings to help yourself feel secure without needing to overspend and overstock on those items.

♡ Identify what you are spending your money on. What is it that you're overspending on? Toiletries like skincare products and soaps? Food? Cookware? Clothing? Stuffed animals? Identifying what it is that you impulse buy the most can help you pick up on some of the reasons for your overspending, and can help you know what areas of purchases you need to be more aware of.

♡ Avoid browsing. Especially with online shopping, browsing for items to buy is way too easy. It is so tempting to log onto your favourite shopping websites and just browse for hours, even if you don't need anything! You can open Amazon without the intention of buying anything in particular and the website will shove products into your face until you convince yourself that you absolutely need something T-T so avoid browsing these websites.

♡ Identify when you need something or truly want something vs when you’re experiencing a Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO). There are multiple parts to this. The first one is SALES. 20% off! Free shipping! Buy one get one 50% off! IGNORE THAT!!!! If you did not want to buy it before you saw the sale, do not let the sale influence you into buying it! That's what the corporations want! These sales are designed to create a false sense of urgency so that you feel a stronger need to purchase the product, even if you didn't really want it that much before. Another part of this is trends. This is really easy to see in fashion but it applies to other things as well. Do you really need the new skirt that everyone is talking about? Do you REALLY like the item or do you just want it because everyone else has it and you want to be cool? Would you wear it if no one else was wearing it? Do you already have items to style it with? How often would you actually wear it? Do you already own something similar? These are really important questions to ask when you're shopping for fashion because it is SO EASY to see everyone else wearing something and then just go buy it because everyone else has it, and then they all move on to something else and it just sits in your closet for the next few months never to see the light of day again.

♡ Take note of what you already have. When you're out shopping for something, ask yourself "Do I already have something similar" or "Do I already have something that can serve this same purpose". This works for a lot of things. If you see a new cardigan you really like, think about if you already have a cardigan you can style in the same way. If you're looking at new cookware, ask yourself if you really need another pot or if you have one that can do the same thing. And if you're not sure, go home and check! It is so much better to make sure that you really need the thing that you're buying before you buy it, than to buy it and then realize that you don't need it or you aren't going to use it.

♡ Don’t view shopping as a hobby. Ask yourself... truly, do you treat shopping as though it is a hobby? If you spend multiple hours on shopping websites, it is a hobby. If you get dressed up just to go walk around Target without any specific thing that you need to buy in mind, it is a hobby. Try to replace this with something else that doesn't involve spending money. If you're spending a lot of time on shopping websites, try playing a video game with customizable elements where you can sort of get the feeling that you're buying and building things without spending money (Animal Crossing is really good for this, making Picrews is another good and free option). If it's more of a way to get yourself out of the house try going to places that don't involve shopping instead, there's a surprisingly large number of free or really cheap little art galleries and museums around where you can go walk around and look at cool stuff without really being sold things. Look on your town's website and see if there are any events going on, you'll be really surprised to see how much stuff people organize and do ESPECIALLY around winter-time there are usually loads and loads of free tree-lighting ceremonies and light shows. Talk to your friends too! If meeting up with friends to go shopping is a big part of your friendship dynamic tell them that you're trying to save money and ask if there are other things that you guys can do instead. (Also just as a note I know this is a lot harder in rural areas than cities T-T I do apologise).

♡ In-Store Tips ♡

♡ Don’t go shopping just to go shopping. If you are going shopping make sure that you are shopping for something that you actually need or truly want and have the financial means of getting. Before you walk into the store identify what these things are. Buy only those things. Additionally if you’re looking for something specific but can’t find that item, don’t settle for something else, instead wait until you can find either the specific item you wanted or a really close alternative. Remember that it’s okay to leave a store without buying anything! If you didn’t find what you wanted or needed, you don’t have to buy anything!

♡ Set a reasonable budget. Sometimes it's okay to just go shopping for fun, but you want to make sure that before you go shopping you set a reasonable budget for yourself. You need it to be enough that you'll actually be able to stick to it (like I would not set the budget to $20, that's unreasonably low), but you also want to make sure that it is not SO much that it is going to financially stress you (for example $200 is usually too high for me). For most people, this is going to land you somewhere in the $50-$150 range depending on your income, expenses, and current financial situation. If at any point you find yourself saying "I can spend a little more if I don't do XYZ" STOP. If you start taking money away from other expenses for "fun shopping", STOP. Make sure that all of your essential bills and expenses can be comfortably covered before you start spending fun money.

♡ Wait before you buy. Don't feel rushed or like you have to buy something right now. Identify things in the store that you like, leave the store, and come back later if you can. If you forget anything that you wanted in the time between you leaving the store and coming back, then you don't really need it. If you cant leave the store, step away from your basket for a second. See if you can remember everything in your basket then come back. If there is anything in your basket that you did not remember, put it back. If it’s online do the same thing. Close the page and see if you can remember everything. If you can’t, delete what you didn’t remember. Even better if you wait 1 week before purchasing. You can leave the items in the cart, just wait a few days and see if you still want to buy them after those few days are up. The general idea is that if you do not remember and want the item when it is not in your immediate vicinity, then you likely don't need it. And especially if you leave the store and come back a few days later, if you really really wanted it on day one, but when you come back two days later you don't really want it anymore, then you likely don't need it.

♡ Think critically about each of your purchases. Below is a little chart that @.downsizeupgrade on TikTok uses when she makes a purchase to weigh out if she really needs it or not that I like quite a bit. I did make a few small changes. There are three versions ranging from super cute over the top layout to very simple and easy-to-read layout so that if any of them are hard to read you have options for which one is the easiest for you to use. It is super important to try and be AS HONEST as you can when you’re answering these questions.

So, I made a challenge for myself until at least the end of the year. No buying yarn for myself unless it's to finish a project I started prior to this challenge or if it's for a custom order that requires specific materials due to customer requests. I can still accept donations and gifts, since I help allocate resources for other crafters near me, but I can't go out of my way to get myself stuff.

Now that I'm one month in, I've looked back on my behavior this past month and realized just how bad my impulse yarn shopping is.

I finish a big project? I want to celebrate by buying yarn.

I get a custom order that I already have the yarn for? I want to go buy new yarn anyways.

I manage to meet some store management deadlines I set for myself? I want to reward myself with more yarn.

I had a really rough day and had a PTSD episode? I want to comfort myself by buying more yarn.

It's insane to realize how instinctively I reach for consumerism as a coping mechanism. I don't need any more yarn. I have more than enough, even if it is my job. It's kind of scary seeing how badly this impulse has affected me, but it's also for the best I realized it now versus it getting worse down the road.

To help with reducing these urges, I've been avoiding haul videos. On one hand, I look at them and see excess consumption, on the other, I see a bunch of products I'm tempted to buy. It's a weird dichotomy, to be sure.