Throughout the festive season, it’s no secret that we all spend a bit more money than we should. You might even be someone who’s fighting the temptation to make impulse purchases, throwing your Christmas budget even further out the door. We’re here to tell you that doesn’t have to be the case, it is possible to do your Christmas shopping without impulse buying. Here are a few tips to try to help you avoid impulse buying this festive season.
1. Reasons for impulse buying
Before you let yourself become too consumed by implementing strategies to prevent impulse buying, it’s worth thinking about the reasons why you make impulse purchases in the first place. Often, the urge to spend money impulsively is tied to your emotive state1. For example, have you ever noticed that grocery shopping on an empty stomach could have resulted in you buying foods you probably wouldn’t usually purchase1? Whatever the reason may be behind why you have a tendency to impulsively spend money, understanding what drives this temptation can help you avoid putting yourself in situations where you may give in to those temptations1.
2. Create a Christmas budget
To keep track of your spending and help you avoid impulse buying, consider developing a budget for the whole festive season that caters for everything you intend to spend money on1. It’s important to make your budget as detailed as possible and, once you have set your budget, keep yourself accountable of sticking to it. Doing so could help you prevent yourself from being tempted to make impulse purchases.
3. Develop a shopping plan
Shopping at Christmas time can be very tricky for impulse buyers – the allure of sales, decorations and good deals could seem irresistible. To help you keep yourself from situations where impulse buying might just be too good to resist, set a shopping plan and only go to the specific shops on your plan1. Just like how you write a shopping list to do your groceries, take the same approach with your Christmas shopping1. Make sure you also consider avoiding hitting the shops with the intent of ‘window shopping’ or going to ‘get ideas’ – tap into your awareness of your impulse spending urges and source the willpower to prevent yourself from giving in1.
4. Unsubscribe from emails
Something we’re all probably guilty of is signing up to every store’s loyalty programs or email lists, meaning we get all kinds of tempting offers coming through our inboxes. If you’re wanting to prevent impulse buying at Christmas, you might like to consider unsubscribing from some, if not all, retail outlets’ email lists1. We all know retailers ramp up their sales and offers around the festive season to attract more customers but that doesn’t mean you have to be one of those customers this year. You don’t necessarily have to unsubscribe from all email lists, but if you’ve discovered this is one of the triggers that encourages your impulsive spending, it might be worth considering.
5. Do you need it?
There are some of us out there who feel guilty about spending money, so you might find this strategy particularly helpful. Before you think about purchasing something outside of your allocated Christmas budget, ask yourself a series of questions about the purchase and why you’re making it2. You may like to consider why you’re buying the item, whether it’s a need or a want, if there are any emotions tied to your decision to make this impulse purchase, and how buying this item could affect your savings goals and Christmas budget2. Giving yourself a proper interrogation could be just the approach you need to tame your urge to spend money.
6. Pay with cash
In this digital age, the idea of paying with cash seems to be phasing out more and more, but when it comes to sticking to a budget, it could just make the world of difference. We all know it can be easy to tap our card on an Eftpos machine and keep going and before you know it, you’ve blown your budget on two purchases. This festive season, tally up the total amount of money you plan to spend and withdraw this amount in cash2. It means that even if you thought about impulsively buying something not catered for in your budget, you wouldn’t have enough cash on hand to do it.
7. Trust your savings plan
The festive season can always be an expensive time of year, but if you remind yourself of your savings goals and what you’re working towards, you might just be able to beat the temptation to impulse buy2. We’re all our toughest critics, so reinforcing our reasons for wanting to prevent impulse spending could be just the motivation you need to not disappoint yourself and give in to the temptation.
To help you keep on top of your impulse buying, you may like to consider using a dedicated savings account to set aside your festive budget. Queensland Country Bank offers a Christmas Club savings account just for this reason.
Terms and conditions of Queensland Country Bank’s Christmas Club account apply. View the relevant TMD available at queenslandcountry.bank. Normal lending criteria, terms, conditions and fees apply and are available on request.
General Advice Warning: This information is intended to be general in nature and is not personal financial advice. It does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. Before acting on any information in this article, you should consider the appropriateness of the information provided. In particular, you should seek independent financial advice.
Sources
1Rachel Cruze, 2023, Impulse buying: Why we do it and how to stop it, Ramsey Solutions, https://www.ramseysolutions.com/budgeting/stop-impulse-buys
2Capitol One, 2023, Impulse buying: What it is and how to avoid it, https://www.capitalone.com/learn-grow/money-management/impulse-buying/