How to Curb Your Spending Impulses

Omniomania?

“Gotta Have It! Gotta Have It! Gotta Have It!” Those words can be quickly replaced by a new mantra, “What Was I Thinking?” Sometimes in less than an hour, buyer’s remorse sets in after an impulse purchase. Everybody succumbs every so often; it’s human nature; sadly, some go on to develop full-blown omniomania. Otherwise known as compulsive shopping (or what’s more commonly referred to as shopping addiction), omniomania is perhaps the most socially reinforced of the behavioural addictions, unlike gambling or online porn.

Good Money Foolishly Spent

All of us have the disease to some degree. With impulse buying, emotional spending, or whatever you want to call it, you are always surrounded by enablers. Our culture wants each of us to be spontaneous, free-spirited, daring, and devil-may-care. And that’s a perfectly fertile background for any one of us to get away with impulse shopping. When next you are sitting on the edge of your couch looking at an impulsively purchased thingy that has every conceivable characteristic of good money foolishly spent, ask yourself what you are going to do about it.

“So, self, what am I going to do about it?”

Of course, 12-step programs are available. Somehow “Hi. My name is Rob and I’m a compulsive shopper.” just doesn’t have the zing, the drama, associated with some other 12-step programs. They may work for you, though. Other treatment ideas and methods abound. Some of them are more bizarre than the bad shopping habit itself. But, folks swear by them. Without much of a nod to research or statistics, those remedies that seem most helpful – because of the frequency of their appearance in self-help lists – are expounded below, along with a few surprises.

Plastic – The Great Enabler

In the 60’s decade of the last century, young men pursuing careers in engineering or manufacturing were advised to “get into plastics.” The advice should have kept, but the young men should have been directed to enter the financial “industry.” Since then a multi-trillion dollar market has been built around plastic cards and the human propensity to need, to want, to have. The plastic credit card is the biggest omniomania enabler ever invented. To cut the facility that plastic offers, consider these ideas:

• Yes, cut. Simply cut them up, get rid of them. Your credit rating will get a hit, but it will quickly recover. Better a hit for that than overwhelming indebtedness, defaults, or worse.
• Don’t carry them. You may think that you’ll need them for an emergency, but your inconvenience once in a great while will be nothing compared to avoiding the losses incurred by your emotional spending.
• Send them away. Give your cards to a trusted friend or relative, especially if he or she lives across town and works the graveyard shift. You’ll still have your cards, but by the time you get to them, your impulse may be gone.
• Freeze Them. In line with the preceding suggestion, freeze your cards in a large container of water or squish them down into a jar of peanut butter. By the time you get them defrosted or wiped off, your impulse will probably be gone.

Become A Psychiatrist

Going straight home on pay day or avoiding friends who are big spenders could be ways to alter your environment so as to alter your impulsive behaviour. According to a recent article in Psychology Today, you shouldn’t pick anything up. Market researchers have observed that customers are much more inclined to buy something if a clerk puts an item in the hands of the customer rather than just pointing to it on a shelf or in a case. The same force is at work when you pick up an item while you’re browsing. Touch it and it’s probably yours. Don’t go shopping when you’re blue. Nor when you’re real happy. And don’t go shopping when you’re hungry. Although this is especially important regarding a trip to the grocer, remember that physical hunger can easily manifest itself as a notion to generally acquire things, to get stuff, not just food.

Become An Accountant

If you’re the kind of guy or gal who pays attention to detail, turn that instinct against your compulsive spending with these preventative measures:

• How much do you make an hour? Even if you’re salaried, you can still figure out a nearly accurate hourly wage. When you go to purchase something, figure out how many hours you would have to work to pay for it. Is it worth it?
• Do you have a budget? Does it includes savings and an emergency fund? Having financial goals can be helpful. When you start to spend, think about your savings account and what it will provide in the future. Think about what you would do if the car was stolen, the house burned down, or your neighbourhood was ordered to evacuate for whatever reason.
• How much do you spend a week? Allot so much money for day-to-day spending for a week and put that much cash in your wallet. When it’s gone, it’s gone.

Something Is Bound To Work

One of the sites that mentions some of the remedies listed here is appropriately named “Bitter Wallet.” And there are plenty more websites targeted at getting your shopping under control. As an example of other interesting techniques you may find:

• Write it down. Get out a pen and pad, stand before the object, right down its full name, and two or three of its best features. Now write down the price with the “$” in front. This has been known to flush the compulsion.
• Go ahead and buy it. Give up. Purchase the item. Take it home, but leave all the tags and don’t take it out of the box. You’ll probably be able to take it back the next day.
• Buy only the best. Let your ego overwhelm your compulsion. Before you buy something, question whether the quality is high enough to really suit you. You are, after all, special. Tell yourself to wait until you can find a more substantial or more luxurious item befitting your class and good taste.
• There’s an app for that. Yes, it was bound to happen. There is at least one smart phone app out there for compulsive shoppers; it’s called “Merry Miser.” Will more follow?

Scare Yourself Straight

This set of lists will get you started. If the techniques listed here don’t help your compulsive spending, keep searching. Counselling may be helpful. One other thing you could do if you aren’t too faint of heart – pull your credit scores. An honest picture of what potential lenders – even potential employers! – will see regarding your financial responsibility, might just be enough to scare you straight.