Are Impulse Buys Sabotaging Your Budget?

by Joel Fink

Do you tend to blow your budget impulse shopping? Take these steps to reduce impulse buys and start winning the budget battle.

So, you’ve put together a budget. That’s great! But why do we so often end up overspending our budget?

An article on Shopify, an e-commerce platform, published an article for its users on how to get more of their buyers to make impulse purchases titled What Is Impulse Buying and How Do You Encourage It.  Retailers are working hard to part shoppers from their hard-earned money.

If impulse buys are sabotaging your budget, what can you do to beat retailers at the impulse buying game?

What Makes Us So Susceptible to Impulse Buying?

Ian Zimmerman, PhD, wrote an article for Psychology Today called “What Motivates Impulse Buying?”. He talks about several factors that contribute to a person’s impulse buying behavior.

• Impulse buyers tend to be more social, status-conscious, and image-concerned.
• Impulse buyers tend to experience more anxiety and difficulty controlling emotions.
• Impulse buyers tend to experience less happiness and make purchases to improve their mood.
• Impulse buyers are less likely to consider the consequences of their spending.
• Impulse buyers often feel a strong connection to a product through their own direct interaction with the product or when they see someone else using and enjoying the product (“vicarious ownership”).

What Actions Can We Take To Combat the Allure of Impulse Purchases?

Maurie Backman recommends that you leave your credit cards at home. She notes that the Creditcards.com survey found that 79% of impulse buys occurred in stores where you can physically touch the product (i.e., vicarious ownership). She also notes that a Bankrate.com study found that people spend 50% more when they use credit cards compared to when using cash.

She also recommends that when you shop online, you search for the item by a specific name rather than category. A study by User Interface Engineering found that consumers were three times more likely to purchase another item in addition to the original item for which they were searching if they searched by category (e.g., flat-screen TV) as opposed to a specific product (e.g., Vizio 48″ HDTV model E48).

Related: How To Avoid Payday Spending Splurges

While Dr. Zimmerman doesn’t give specific recommendations for combatting impulse buying, he does provide insight into the underlying causes. Much of the behavior is centered on anxiety or unhappiness and the pleasure we feel when we make a purchase.

He reminds us that everyone behaves impulsively now and then and that modest cases of impulse buying can be harmless. However, extreme cases of impulse buying can lead to debt and unhappiness.

In extreme cases, like with depression, you may need to seek qualified professional help. (See also Dealing with Depression During Tough Financial Times.) In more moderate cases, you can take steps to combat impulse buying motivations.

When you feel stress or unhappiness, look for outlets (other than shopping) like exercising, volunteering, calling a friend, taking a walk, or going to the library.

Related: 10 Questions To Ask Before Splurging

Try not to focus on the new product that you want. Try focusing on what you already own. Don’t compare yourself to others based on the things that you own. You may think that they have nicer “things,” but they may also have incurred higher debt to get those things.

Staying on budget is difficult for almost everyone. Taking steps to reduce impulse buys and understanding the motivations driving impulse purchases can help you finally start winning the budget battle.

• 8 Ways To Overcome Retail Therapy
• Could Social Media Be Causing You To Overspend?
• 6 Types of People Who Have Trouble With Money
• Simple Tricks for Controlling Overspending

Reviewed November 2023

About the Author

Joel Fink is a retired CPA and financial services executive living in Dallas, Texas. He enjoys writing articles that help real people with simple ideas to manage their money and improve their lives.