Emotional Spending Signs

Sometimes after a crappy or stressful week have you ever found yourself splurging? Or even spending money that you shouldn’t have? If you have something we call emotional spending, didn’t think it was a thing? It certainly is and in this blog we’re going to look at the signs to look out for and a few tips to help you control it.

The Signs of Emotional Spending

1. You Buy Something Then Justify It

We all love to treat ourselves every now and then and this is by no means a sign of emotional spending, but if you are starting to buy things constantly as a reward or as a treat because you deserve it this is the main red flag. This is because you’re putting your needs before the actual value of money, you’re using money as a way to cope and make yourself feel better, this is never a good sign. Leading to the illusion spending money should make us feel happy and that is a recipe for disaster.

2. You Spend Money You Shouldn’t

If you’re slipping into the system of buying things you don’t need or don’t necessarily have the money for, this is also a key sign of emotional spending. It’s easy to fall into that trap of splurging especially if we get big bill reminders, it’s easy to overspend on other things to distract yourself from the problem at hand going back to that I deserve this attitude when in actual fact it just worsens the whole situation. If you have ever found yourself spending money you don’t have or shouldn’t be then this is a key red flag you’re an emotional spender.

3. Retail Therapy Beats Therapy

Constantly finding yourself treating yourself and going on shopping sprees when you’re not feeling your best, red flag you’re probably an emotional spender. Emotional spending is in fact a form of addiction, so going shopping to make yourself feel better often gives you that hit you’re looking for. If you’re looking to curb this habit it might be a good idea to take up a hobby to help relieve stress some other way, there are many other strategies out there to help combat worry and stress.

Tips To Stop Emotional Spending

Tip One

Try to stay away from the shops and the internet, they are the main influencers in this problem, by doing this you won’t trigger your brain into thinking you want and need something now meaning less impulse spending. Taking a step back before rushing into any purchases takes at least 24-48 hours to think about it, doing this helps us put things into perspective and think normally. If you have thought about it at that time and your budget allows you to make the purchase, our guess is you will have completely forgotten about it by that time.

Tip Two

Are you a social butterfly? Most emotional spenders usually enjoy the finer things in life including going for nice meals, having the best clothes and enjoying luxury holidays. Try setting yourself a budget that’s just to treat yourself. You don’t have to cut out spending completely, you just need to cut back.

Tip Three

If you think or know you’re an emotional spender, figure out what triggers you. Once you identify them try to put something into place that helps you avoid them, obviously we know some things are unavoidable but try doing something else instead such as going to the gym.