Emotional spending. A shopping excursion fueled by emotions in an effort to remove ourselves from our stressful situation. You may be feeling anxious, irritable or bored and seek temporary relief from these feelings with some mindless shopping. However, what you might not realize is the deep, lasting impact a short stint shopping online or in-store can have on your emotional well-being.
Consider what is fueling your desire to spend and whether shopping is a way of avoiding deeper issues. Are you decompressing stress? Avoiding financial woes? Justifying purchases? Seeking immediate gratification? Competing with other people? Buying and returning more items than you keep? If you answered yes to any of these questions then you might have a bigger issue that needs to be addressed.
Here are a few tips to help you break away from emotional spending:
Give yourself a week to think about the purchase so you can reflect on your purchase. Consider your budget, the necessity of the item, etc. You might find that after a week you don’t even want the item.
Consider the emotions fueling your shopping. Are you feeling generally unsatisfied because you are bored? Maybe it is time for a hobby or some volunteer work. Engage your mind and find something that brings you joy.
If you are under financial pressure start damage control now. Make yourself a realistic budget and stick to it. You don’t have to cut yourself off from all luxuries but splurge without breaking the proverbial bank. Live within your means. And if it is outside your means find a realistic way to increase your means.
You’re feeling stressed so you’re just going to quickly check out the sale of your favorite online store. Stop. Go outside, take a walk, go on a run. Reconnect with yourself. You hate to exercise? Too bad. Just get your butt outside and take a 15 minute walk. It will help you immensely.
You went to the store and you bought a bunch of crap that you don’t need. Now you have buyer’s remorse and you are ready to return all of your emotionally fueled purchases. Slaps wrist. Stop it. You may justify this routine because the impact is not obvious. After all, you aren’t really spending anything, right? Wrong. Your time is money. How long did this entire process of going to the store, shopping and then returning to the store to return your purchases take you? Too long. You probably could have earned a bit of cash had you clocked those hours in at your job. Furthermore, consider the wasted gas money for a frivolous venture that resulted in wasted time. Plus, you’re still engaging in the emotional shopping cycle and avoiding the real problem. Slaps wrist again. Again, stop it. You gotta find your healthy balance and fill that time with positive things that bring you joy. Again, get outside, go for a walk and don’t come back until your mind is clearer.
As you can see, I really feel exercise is a major component to mental well-being. And I know a lot of people can exercise like a maniac and shop like a maniac all in one day. But the idea is to not just mindlessly exercise or find some mindless hobby. You have to find meaningful things to fill your time and find what truly brings joy to you. Life can be tough, but if we simplify things for ourselves just a little bit it can make all the difference to our happiness and well-being.
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