Impulse Buying: What it is & How to Stop

giving birth. Is this what I'm lamenting?

some consequences. I'd like to see. Frugal Friends podcast dot com slash friend Letter to get the friend Letter and see the consequences of your own actions in a good way, In a good way.

holiday specifically. Today we are diving into impulse buying a little deeper, so we're talking about science behind and strategies for intentional shopping. So this one's going to complement episode two seventy nine really really well. So let's get into our first article, which is from shopify dot com. It's what is impulse buying and how do you encourage it? So that may sound like a weird title, but what this article is it is for marketers on how to

get people to impulse buy their products. So this is a guide. This is what is being taught to the people that are marketing to you, and we're going to share it with you and talk about it so that you understand when and how and why you're being marketed to and use that knowledge to fight off the urge to impulse buy.

impulse buy is not consciously planned. Compulsive buying happens in the spur of the moment. It can be hard for any one individual to control, and it can be very heavily affected by emotional states ranging from anger to joy. Anyone listening might be able to relate to that the times that you have bought impulsively, there was probably a degree of high intensity emotion happening for you, maybe on that spectrum somewhere, And so then it goes on to

describe some of the science behind buying behavior. They reference this kind of first review study that suggested that many shopping behaviors are correlated to a number of factors, including personality traits, buying beliefs and attitudes, sociocultural values, demographic factors, and all of these are linked to both internal and

external factors. So internal factors being those emotions that we were describing, kind of the thoughts and feelings happening inside of us, as well as external factors, which can be the environment. What's happening or has just happened around us can be one of the things that contributes to us impulsively purchasing something. We might call this self gifting or retail therapy, and maybe shopping as a way to manage mood,

which might be done intentionally. I am not feeling great, I'm going to the store, but not necessarily having an idea of what exactly you're going to buy, and it just kind of leads to whatever strikes my fancy is what I'm going to put into the cart.

and impulses to eat. These urges are stimulated by external stimuli like the cake, the donut, how it looks, the smell. Well, all of our senses are going, and you buy the

cake without thinking about it. And so this social psycho just explains that because of your past experiences with cake or donuts or hot dogs, I mean, I'm just going to keep adding food in your brain forms these cluster of links that A the concept of cake, B has a positive effect generated by the cake leading to c the repeated patterns of behavior that led to the positive effect. And so it's just this connection that our brain makes,

which is very good. It allows us to be so efficient, It allows us to do many things on autopilot and muscle memory that does benefit us. I mean, think about the times that you've brushed your teeth without even needing to think about it. It's related to this thing where we kind of have this automatic I'm about to go to bed. This is what I've done since i was six years old, and so this is what I'm doing now.

But then it can have this kind of not so great impact on our finances if we weren't planning on buying that cake, donut, hot dog, that it's just kind of this muscle memory. We do it subconsciously, We almost do it without thinking about it because we almost we feel helpless to the delicious cake. And this then happens in almost all areas of spending. It doesn't have to just be food. It's whatever association and that goes back to the kind of social psychological behaviors of what we

associate shopping or buying to. And again, when our emotions are at play, we can have an association that buying this thing is going to make me feel better, or buying this thing is going to further how great I currently feel. You could be on any end of that spectrum. But it can be almost even this coping mechanism that leads to some of that impulsivity.

number four is household items. And you can use this data to help yourself and know that. Okay, looking at my ninety day transaction inventory, let's first do a sweep of coffee, and now let's do a sweep of household items that I've purchased, just to see how prone you are to each of these categories. The third this was shocking to me vehicles is shocked vehicles. Yeah, people are impulse buying vehicles. Who would do that, Jill.

number one place where we impulse spend. And of the big three, our biggest three expenses in our monthly budget, housing, transportation, food. So apparently people are impulse buying transportation to Now.

take out technology, toys, all the teas and shoes. Look at what you are most prone to impulse spending on and work on that first before you look at all of your impulse buys. Let's work on one big category first, and most likely for you, it's going to be food or groceries. Food and or groceries, So definitely plenty of episodes to help you with that one category.

luxury items or products. People also buy things because they feel it will just save them money in the long run. They reference back again to this Slick Deal's survey where they found that fifty two percent of respondents would rather take advantage of a deal than pay full price. So sales promotions tend to impact sales because consumers are price conscious. Most of us are not. Many of us are loving the restaurants where they don't put prices next to the wine.

We know that just means it's unaffordable, and I don't mess with.

That can trigger some impulsivity of and probably even a bit of scarcity of when is this next? When is this deal going to come around again. There's a lot of things that can play into that, but just that I'm getting a deal, therefore I'll spend I'll spend it right now.

You can say you were going to, but I love a deal. We talk about deals in the friend Letter, but we don't emphasize deals in the friend Letter because they cause impulse purchases. Ultimately, a sale is a marketing tactic, and so we don't want to market for these companies for free and get you to spend money with them. We would like you to take money from them in

the form of freebies and other things. And I think that is the reason vehicles are number three on that list, because they are always doing sales and always throwing in incentives. Every month is the biggest sale of the year, right, So I really feel like it's this particular one that really attributes to that transportation car one, because I mean, what was going to get you to purchase that car last weekend, Jill.

next six months. And if I have seen that the deal is better then it will be in six months or has been whatever, or is what I really want on Facebook Marketplace, then yes, I have impulse purchased that. And that's when an impulse purchase can be good, it can be beneficial, But it's when we start getting into those I could maybe I think I might want this, I probably will. When you start getting wishy washy about that, that's the sign that tells you this is not going

to be an impulse purchase in my best interest. So the next one is physical stimuli. And we don't get this as much in our online lives, but when you are in person somewhere, you can definitely be influenced by physical stimuli. So I'm going to call out Target. That's what we're going to talk about. Physical stimuli at Target. So store environment data suggests that a pleasant environment encourages customers to shop around. Definitely more pleasant. Target is more

pleasant than other big box stores. Background music studies show that soft background music slows the shopping pace, results in more spending time salespeople that provide guidance. So this is big at higher end stores. So like when you're going to the mall, you're at your like Nieman, Marcus's and stuff like that, and then the last one on the list. Promotions sales promotions like Bogo encourage customers to buy larger quantities,

free vouchers, refunds, free sampling, gift backs. Those are all known proven to impact and increase impulse buying.

think that they were primarily talking about Target. You know, they're at the Joanna Gain section where everything is just st aged really beautifully, it looks really lovely. They'd pick an item that they think that they're about to purchase and take it over to the trash bin aisle, like where you'd go to purchase trash cans, and see whether

the item still looks good there. And they were kind of joking about how this is going to be, what it's like to take this thing back to your house, Like it looks really gready in the like stage Joanna Gain section, but like what's it actually going to look like in your house? And so if the item still holds up in the trash can section, like it still is really cute, then then okay, maybe you know you've put it through the tests, and if not, then no,

don't bring it back to your home. It was really interesting, like she showed a couple of different items, like here's what it looks like in this pretty section of Target. Here's what it looks like next to trash cans, and it it really did reveal the true quality of the products. It was like, oh, yeah, that thing is not as cute as it was, and that sections there you go. There's just like a hot tip of that environment.

or anxiety that you were feeling. To be able to shop around the store and then purchase this item and get that immediate rush of this is now mine and I have this thing that I've been looking at. Can be a reason to impulse shop. Whatever we are being sold or we are telling ourselves about the purchase of that item, I'm like, this is gonna solve so many problems, This is gonna make my life better, and this and that way, this is going to make me feel so good.

Right now in this moment, I'm feeling sad, I'm feeling down, I'm feeling happy, I'm feeling treat myself and just the seeking of instant gratification can be why we pull out our debit card or credit card and just get the thing.

and they don't really need the shirt. While the emotional sides doesn't think about the future, It just sees instant gratification as the ultimate reward, and it depends on which side wins. So consumer research suggests that shoppers are more likely to spend in stores, So when we're in the store, usually the emotional side wins out, and then in the online the opportunity to put it in the cart and forget about it, so more often your logical side can win.

But when we're talking about frequency of a tech an actual physical store versus the opportunity to shop online, Gosh, you can access a store from your phone all day, every day, so the opportunity to shop is way more than having to drive to a store. So in that case, it's kind of a wash. So that's why we emphasize that values based spending isn't quote unquote finding your why

or your bigger reason for your financial goals. We have to figure out these short term rewards that are more important, these short term internal motivators that will win out in a battle of your logical and emotional brain. So short term things that you're saving for like on a weekly basis, I'm not gonna buy this coffee because I want to be able to buy an appetizer at day on Saturday, or negotiating with yourself, I am going to buy this latte and I will not buy the appetizer at dinner

on Saturday. So again where the impulse purchases aren't necessarily bad, but you have to make these trade offs in the short term to battle this very thing, the instant gratification.

the shops altogether to prevent impulse buys. So it is difficult to buy something on a whim when you're not even in the store to shop or make that purchase. So if you are identifying that this is an area that you are having a lot of struggle in controlling shifting behavior, we are not going to advocate long term, never go to the store. That's an extreme. You can't

live life that way. But in the immediacy of training yourself differently, finding new coping mechanisms, learning more about yourself and what leads you specifically to impulse by. We are absolutely going to interrupt the cycle by just not going to the stores altogether, and a lot of that does have to do with physical presence in the store. As you Jen had mentioned in that first article, that just being in the store can make a big difference on

our impulsivity. We are much more likely, especially if the environment is really beautiful, soft music's playing to impulse by. Then we might be even online. I'm not saying that there's not impulsivity that happens online, but there's also something to just physically being in a store. So we can't just stop a behavior though, especially one that is feeding us in some way or is some version of a coping mechanism, even if it's not meeting the need all

the way, we need to replace it with something. So they are suggesting when you are wanting to go to a store instead, just go for a walk elsewhere. This could be outside, maybe someplace inside, but not at a store. Go for a walk, get some exercise, move your body, allow yourself to think about something else and not even be kind of tempted by just the things that your eyes see. You could also if it's kind of that

satisfaction that treat yourself that you're looking for. Consider ways to get that at home or for free, like giving yourself a manicure, pedicure at home, getting together with a friend, just talking with a friend on the phone, watching your favorite show, or cute videos of animals. You could journal find what works for you. This is not obviously an exhaustive list, but the first step is not going to the store itself. But you have to then follow it

up with what will you do instead? Otherwise it'll feel like complete deprivation and it won't be sustainable.

apps off your phone. Don't allow yourself to purchase on an app. It's not a long term strategy. It could be for a lot of us. It won't be a long term strategy, but it is a good detox. And I would say this is another reason why you're doing a ninety day transaction. History is really important so that you can see the places that you are prone to impulse spending, like the physical places. So maybe you impulse buy something on Amazon. What were you doing when you

were making that purchase? Where were you what had just happened? Think about not just the purchase, think about the environment and the all of the cues and triggers surrounding you when the purchase was made, and try to replace that action. Because you were trying to meet some kind of need by doing the impulse shopping. How can we replace that action was something that will be more suitable and actually meet the need more so, like when I had my first son, I went to Target a lot and it

was really just to get out of the house. That's what I really needed. And it was too hot outside to go for a walk. I mean, that's a great suggestion if the weather is nice, but honestly, I just needed to be out of my house and it was either that's the only way the kid would sleep is if they were in the car seat in the car. So I'm driving places. Right where do I go? I'm going to Starbucks, I'm going to the drive through Taco Bell,

I'm going to Target. So I had to distill it down to figure out, Okay, what was the actual goal. The actual goal wasn't that I wanted to be at Target. The goal was that I wanted my kid to sleep. So that's when I started. Literally, I would put the kid in the car, just drive around for ten minutes and then come home. That was it, That's what I

really wanted. It got the job done. And then on the days that I did want to actually be outside, honestly, I would go to a place where I knew I wasn't going to be tempted to buy something, so like Niman Marcus, some a really expensive place where I was so offended by the prices of genes that I knew I wasn't going to spend money. Everything was out of my price range. That's where I would go. So you

have to get creative. Once you identify the true reasons behind your impulse spending, then you can get creative in how you meet that desire without the actual impulse spending. So the next one is to make it difficult to spend money. We're running through the habit loop. So I think I just covered that, but I'll reiterate taking the apps off of your phone. This article also suggests to get rid of store cards and credit cards if they

enable you to make unwise purchases. This is a place where promotions can come into play because as a store card holder, you get a lot of promotions, a lot of extra sales because they want you to put money onto that store card. Because these stores make more money off of these cards then they do off of your purchases at the stores. That is a common thing. The harder they push these cards, you know, the more money

they're making off of them. They know that people who have their cards not only are they putting their shopping more frequently, they're also buying more product. So they want you to get these cards, so get rid of them. Don't worry about the hit to your credit. It will bounce back soon enough. But whatever is making you like unsubscribing from emails, stuff like that, think about the things that are enticing you to spend, and then getting rid of those. Taking your credit card number out of all

of your things on your line. Our episode Tips to Lower impulse Spending covers a lot of these ways to make it more difficult to impulse spend.

ahead of time it's okay, it's within range. I'm giving myself permission to spend this amount when I'm going out.

I think my biggest impulse spends happen at yard sales and thrift stores, honestly, and I don't go to them often, but for me, a Saturday morning walking around our neighborhood and there's yard sales happening, like that's a fun activity for me, and I know that there's always going to be some sort of goodie to find, whether it's plants or a kitchen gadget that I'm still kind of developing stuff from my kitchen now that I don't live in

a vehicle anymore and I actually have a home. Like, there's a lot that I just don't have, and sometimes I don't know what I don't have until I see it out. But this is what works for me is I don't know what I'm going to come across, but I know I'm going to come across things that I think will solve a problem for me. But I'm only going to take twenty dollars and it doesn't feel impulsive then, just because I didn't exactly plan to buy that salad spinner.

The salad spinner was a dollar and I don't have one, and this is going to be useful for me, so it's fine. It's within my budget of things I can buy that I'm not even sure exactly what that's going to be. The ability to find a good deal and a treasure that's what I want on that particular day. And then leads into the next one of just being

aware of our emotional state. And I think a lot of times we can think this has to do with just feeling really down and I need to pick me up, and the pick me up is just going to be buying whatever I lay eyes on. But again, as we've said, we can impulse buy because of a variety of emotions. We can be elated about a good thing that has just happened, or really down upset about something that has

just happened. So being aware of what your emotions lead to, how you cope with them, and limiting the shopping that you're doing if you are feeling these emotions that are going to lead to this, it's not always super feasible. Sometimes we do just have to go to the grocery store even though it's been a bad day. Even acknowledging that can be really helpful of I am a little bit more vulnerable to impulse buying today than maybe I

will it would have been yesterday. And because of that, I'm just going to be more aware of the decisions that I make when I go to the grocery store.

answer that question immediately, we're waiting a couple days. If it's something in the store, put it back, because you know you can get it online. Put it back, and you can put it in your cart, on your phone and leave it and give it a few days and if you still want it, then you can get it online. That is the wonder of the internet. But first ask yourself, just pause and ask yourself, like, what purpose is this going to serve for me? How does it look next

to my trash cans? Do I have something similar?

So I had the genius idea printing most of it in black and white and then separately printing the only twenty three pages I needed in color. This gave me so much money, and when I did it online, I also got a twenty five percent off coupon, plus Racketen gave me two percent cash back, plus my credit card had a five percent cash back reward. So all in all, what originally would have cost me two hundred dollars came out to just ninety five dollars. I'm super excited about

this frugal win. Thanks for all you to do. I love the show.

a twenty thousand word book. So I would love to see somebody print their dissertation print on demand and you can take it right off of Amazon. But like, I honestly would love to see that somebody put their dissertation in a print on demand book just to like save money.

good degree. You're going places? If you all listening, also feel like you're going places and you're getting deals, and you're stacking deals and you're hacking stuff and you're just not spending nearly as much as you should have, or you're spending so much because you don't care and it's in your value system, or your name is Bill and you have no idea why you're here even listening to

the Frugal Friends podcast. But your name is Bill. Give us a call just so Frugal friendspodcast dot com slash Bill. We are unhinged and ready for it, and now it's time.

And he comes to me with a picture on Facebook marketplace of a spiral staircase that someone is selling and thinking him just thinking, oh, wouldn't that be funny? And for me, I'm like, no, actually, that's a dream come true. Can we do it? And so impulsively yes, we did. It went to this place. We had to uninstall the spiral staircase from their second story balcony and then install it at our house. But it is a feature of

the outside of the property. Everyone who comes over does comment on it, mostly because they think it leads somewhere. It just goes to the roof. They're like, what's up there, Let's let this viral staircase. Where does it go? And we're like, I'm the roof. That's it. It just goes to the roof. But it looks awesome and I have no regrets about that. Granted we didn't spend a ton of money on it. That does help in whether or not I'm going to regret it is how much I

spent on it. Oh, here is ones that I regret. I'm changing the way that this question is being asked. With something you don't regret, something you do regret. My regrets are lipsticks and lip glosses. It's like the purchase that I can't seem to get right. I will buy a lipstick thinking I like that color, but obviously you can't try it because I'm not going to the beauty stores. I'm getting it off the shelf at Walmart and it's in plastic and you can't try it before you buy it.

And then I get in the car, put it on, instantly realized, no, that doesn't look good on me, and now what to be done. I can't return it, so I am minimal in every single area. But I've got a handful of lipsticks that I probably will never wear. I tried it once, didn't work. I regret those impulse purchases. Well, now I know, are we gonna spoil it.

And then thirty days later we were homeowners and best decision we ever impulse made.

making me do six side hustles because I'm tired. This is such a fun and accessible show for new and experienced frugal folks alike. She's so good with words. Thank you, Lisa Tella.

be the Hallmark Movie Channel. They're going to be playing Reba in Silence, and I don't know what's going on in that show. I can't run four miles on Riba, And I was like, you know what, a little bit is better than nothing. And if I go home, I can't go back out because I don't have enough time

because I got an interview at eleven. So I stopped at the gym and I went and I you know, started, and I was just like, you know what, I'm going to run for five minutes and then I'll walk a minute and I'll just keep going and do that and until you know, I feel like I'm not gonna I can't do it anymore. And you know what, by the grace of our Lord, Catfish.

just on repeat. There has been a time where we were at a hotel. We wanted to go out and explore the area that we were vacationing too, but we couldn't pull ourselves away from the episode of Catfish that we got roped into, or like yeah, yeah, yeah, we're about to leave. We had like our bags and everything ready, but had to finish the episode of Catfish before we left. I mean, I wasn't running, but me too, I get glory to it.