Emotional Spending

Is shopping part of your favorite pastime?

Yesterday I went for my routine facial appointment and I ended up spending more money purchasing another series of beauty products. Although I knew I’m spending within my budget, it just made me wonder how a person become a emotional spender as I came across an article today about emotional spending from Investopedia.com

Emotional Spending occurs when you buy something you don’t need and, in some cases, don’t events really want as a result of feeling stressed out, bored, under-appreciated, incompetent, unhappy, or any number of other emotions. In fact, we even spend emotionally when we’re happy, what did you buy yourself the last time you got a raise? There's nothing wrong with buying yourself nice things from time to time as long as you can afford them and your finances are in order, but if you're spending more than you'd like to on non-necessities or are struggling to find the cash to pay the bills or pay down your credit card debt, learning to recognize and curb your emotional spending can be an important tool. While avoiding emotional spending completely is probably not a realistic goal for most people, there are some steps you can take to decrease the damage it does to your wallet.

Here are 5 tips to shop smartly suggested by the article.

Tip 1: Make the Store Your Last Choice
Most people go to a store by default anytime they need something, but that’s not the only way to obtain a needed item. Ask yourself whether you can get it for free? Or can you borrow it for item that you only need it once a year?

Tip 2: Negotiate When Possible
Most of the prices in the store are fixed and it’s a waste of your time trying to negotiate but if you do see the opportunity, do consider negotiating for a lower price like asking for a discount, etc.

Tip 3: Time Your Purchase
If you wait to purchase something until you really need it, you’re likely to pay the sticker price, but with a little advanced planning, you can save a lot of money.

Tip 4: Substitute
If the item you want to buy doesn’t quite fit into your budget, think about similar but less expensive alternatives.

Tip 5: Expand Your Shopping Universe
If you normally go straight to your favorite store or the mall when you need to buy something, consider other shopping options that can save you a great deal of money like consider buying in bulk or buy during garage sales.

Oniomania
The most serious condition on overspending is called oniomania.
(Definition from Wikipedia - A medical term for shopaholic (from Greek onios = ‘for sale’, mania = insanity) more commonly referred to as shopping addiction or shopaholism, is the compulsive desire to shop.)