Read This Before Impulse Buying

Here are the 5 steps I took to stop mid-buying spree

First of all, don’t be so hard on yourself for having these thoughts. I know your brain and your heart are warring it out right now.

“I need it!”

“No, we need to save!”

“We have some funds right now, and we can get it back if we don’t.”

“When are we ever going to use this thing?!”

Back and forth. Back and forth. Oh… and more back and forth.

If you are in between this back-and-forth situation, I sincerely understand. I was just going through it this morning. So, no shame here. In addition to this being a no-shame zone, I am also not going to tell you what to do. I am only asking you to finish this article.

You are reading this for a reason.

Now that you are locked in, let me tell you that you won’t feel better in the long term. I know, I know, I had to rip the band-aid off from the get-go, but it is true.

Swiping that card or putting your thumb to the phone for payment, only feels good for a certain amount of time. When you are in the rush of it all, you think, “Well, I already spent this much. Might as well finish it off.”

Again, absolutely NO SHAME HERE!

If you never thought about buying something, then you don’t need it, even if you do have the budget for it.

You could spend that money on something intentional and aligned. You could spend that money on an investment to make you more. Oftentimes, impulse buys don’t give you anything in return after you have bought them.

As someone who has been through this, I also know how strong the urge is.

Let me tell you how I managed to stop myself mid-impulse spree.

Yesterday, I was sad as all outdoors. I woke up not having slept well. I was all-round not having a good time, to say the least. With the combination of nothing going my way and being bored, I decided to play my daily video game.

Within my mobile game, there waiting for me was the gacha event. For those of you who don’t know, a gacha event is similar to a spinning wheel game. You can get big prizes, repeats, or smaller prizes.

I had saved up a considerable amount of game currency through playing daily but it didn’t even get me half the prizes I wanted.

With nothing happening for me in real life, I wasn’t about to let nothing happen in the game world too.

As a result, I spent my real money on game money. I started innocent, but I ended up not getting any good pulls. Before I knew it, I spent an ungodly amount of money on fake fashion skin that I could never touch in real life.

When I got the skin, it wasn’t enough. I wanted more. I wanted all the skins, all the upgrades, and all the tiers. I was going between that back-and-forth I was talking about earlier.

Even though common sense dawned on me now, within that period I could only think about how it was technically in my budget and that I should spend my money on what I wanted. Who cares, if it is for a game for a skin I wasn’t even crazy for?

However, deep in my heart (and just like in yours), I knew I did not want to spend money on this thing.

The first step I did was to pause. I understand this is difficult. I only got through to this after I spent some.

Through deleting the app, attempting to take the 1-click buy-off and other efforts, I still had the urge, but it gave me space to think better.

The second step I did was to talk about it to someone.

I know this might seem sad, but I opened up an AI chat box and told it to convince me not to buy it. I didn’t have anyone to talk to, but I had to do something.

When you talk about it with a person, or in my case a chat box, you can get outside of your head. When you are in this space of impulse buying, you are not thinking straight all the way. Someone else will bring that to your attention.

The third thing I did was remind myself that this feeling would pass.

I understand you think that you will forever want those limited-edition moon socks with yak hair woven in them. However, nothing lasts forever, including this impulse.

I kept reminding myself of that over and over again. I knew I didn’t want to spend my money on this. You know you don’t want to spend your money on that thing either. That’s why you’ve made it to this point of this novel.

The fourth thing I did was to prevent myself from making the same mistake.

I deleted the app, and I put myself on gaming timeout for at least a couple of weeks to months. The Gacha event will be long over. I know if I open the app prematurely, I might make the same mistake.

The fifth, and final, thing I did was give myself grace and add this to my database for potential future impulses.

There is something profound after giving in an expensive impulse for takeout and having the food be terrible. I guarantee you, one will not readily indulge in impulse buying delivery after an experience like that.

The same thing happened with this game situation. I didn’t feel good when I realized there were other wants I intended to buy that I couldn’t anymore.

Of course, I wanted to beat myself up, but was that going to bring my money back?

Nope.

Was that going to get me out of the downward spiral that led me to spend in the first place?

Double nope.

The smart thing to do is to cut yourself some slack and reach out for help. Be proud of yourself for reading articles like this. Be proud of yourself for wanting to change and improve your habits. If you managed to stop at any point, count that as a win.

If you find yourself severely struggling, please reach out to a mental health professional. If you are in the U.S., you can reach out to the SAMHSA hotline number 800–662–4357, which helps people from all roads of life including those struggling with this.

Final Words

There is no shame here. I am not telling you what to do. I just care about you. I want the best for you. I know you’ll make the right decision for you, whatever that looks like.

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