Deep Thoughts: What is Your Spending Trigger?

What makes you overspend? I came across the phrase spending trigger recently and was able to identify mine when I found myself spending money to calm my anger. Studies have shown that when we are in a state of emotional tumult, buying something can make us feel better. But this feeling is only temporary and continuous reactions by spending could lead us into financial distress. The only way out is to identify and understand the emotional trigger that makes you overspend so you can curb it.

Here is a list of the nine most common  – costly – spending triggers as identified by Maggie McGrath in her article on Forbes займ на карту 18 лет.

1. You’re drunk. Or hungry. Or both.

Alcohol lowers our inhibitions, which means a few glasses of wine might make you more likely to splurge on that shiny new electronic you’ve been eyeing, budget consequences be damned. A recent survey found that Americans spend an average of $139 in an “unplanned booze-filled buying session,” with men spending a whopping four times more than what women spend when they’re under the influence ($233 for men compared to $45 for women).

Hunger has a slightly different effect, psychologically — but it too will drain your wallet. Research shows that we have our caveman hunter-gatherer instincts to blame for this. A 2015 study by the University of Michigan found that while hunger is our body’s cue to find and consume nutrients, the stimulus extends to non-food items, too. The study looked at shoppers in a department store and found that the hungrier ones spent a whopping 60% more than customers who were not hungry.

2. You’re sad or angry.

It’s not just called retail therapy for nothing: studies have found that when we’re in a state of emotional turmoil, buying stuff can — in the short term — restore our sense of control and make us feel happy. The key phrase there is “in the short term.” If you go on too large of a shopping bender, the credit card bill you get at the end of the month might very well undo those positive feelings.

3. You’re lonely.

Sound familiar? Your friends are out of town and you have no plans, so you decide to “just browse” at the local bookstore. Or “just window shop” at the mall. Hours later, you come out with stacks of books — or clothes — feeling a bit less lonely than you were when you started the day. A 2013 Journal of Consumer Research paper says this is because material acquisition can decrease loneliness over time. But be careful: this same paper also found that there’s such thing as a “loneliness loop” wherein materialism and loneliness create a self-reinforcing cycle. “Valuing material possessions as a measure of success and as a medicine for happiness were associated with increases in loneliness over time, and loneliness in its turn was associated with increases in these subtypes of materialism,” the researchers wrote.

4. You feel that you “deserve it.”

Yes, it’s the age of “treat yo self,” but if you “treat yo self” too much, “yo” wallet won’t be as happy. If you tend to treat yourself to a reward (a drink, a massage, a pricey piece of clothing, etc) after a long week at work or the completion of every hard project, the price of these treats will add up fast. Parks and Rec’s Tom and Donna had the right idea: they indulged in a “treat yo self” day, but only once a year.

5. You think the deal is just “too good to resist!”

Sales that scream “buy one, get one free!” or “50% off for a limited time only!” make us feel like we’re getting away with a steal. But as Sam Sharf explains here, a deal is only a deal if you were planning on buying the thing anyway. If you haven’t used or worn the last five things you’ve purchased in clearance sales, it might be a sign that you were only buying for the thrill of the game.

6. You want to keep up with the proverbial Joneses.

It’s the adult version of peer pressure: all your friends or neighbors have something, so you want that thing, too. The question is, do you really need it? The better question is, can you actually afford it? As many personal finance experts say, what the Joneses don’t tell you is that they’re in debt because of their lifestyle.

7. You can’t resist “shopper’s high.”

It’s like runner’s high, but with a credit card. A study from 2005 found that when someone goes shopping, their brain releases dopamine — aka, the happiness hormone. While this helps further explain why shopping can help alleviate feelings of sadness, anger, and loneliness, you don’t have to feel emotional to also feel shopper’s high.

8. You got a raise or a sudden influx of cash.

It’s a natural impulse: a raise or tax refund suddenly makes your budget a lot less tight, so you splurge on a vacation, upgrade to a nicer car or apartment or start going out to eat a lot more. This is called lifestyle creep. Fend it off by saving your raises (and refunds), or otherwise directing the money to a financial goal. Not sure how to best allocate your extra cash?

9. You want the quick fix.

Saving time and effort will almost always cost you money. The clearest example here is food — you save money by grocery shopping and cooking at home rather than eating out every night — but the time/money tradeoff exists elsewhere, too. Rush shipping, for instance, costs more than standard; hiring someone to clean your home will certainly cost you more in dollars than it would if you were to clean it yourself. Of course, sometimes it’s worth it to save yourself time and pay to have something done for you. The key is to know when it’s truly worth it to do so. 

Now, how can you know for sure what your spending triggers are? If none of the above scenarios made you murmur, “Oh, I do that all the time,” take a look at your past month of purchases — especially the unplanned ones. Try to remember how you were feeling at the time. Did a trip to the Apple store correlate to a day you were mad at your boss? Did an extra-large grocery bill occur on the night you had a client dinner and imbibed a bit too much beer? Or maybe that extra-large grocery bill came on the day you skipped breakfast to run a 10-mile loop around your neighborhood, and your hunger synapses were firing more than usual. The proof, as they say, is in the pudding — perhaps literally.

Hope by reading this you were able to identify your spending trigger, every kobo is worth saving you know. Anyways, see you next week.

Jaa Mata