How to get your emotional spending under control

Are your emotions making you turn to retail therapy? We’ve got some key tactics to help curb your spending.

When we feel stressed or uncertain about life, our finances can often be one of the first things to suffer. If your affinity for retail therapy is often triggered by emotions (like boredom, jealousy or stress) and it’s leaving you with money worries, it’s time to take back control.

How much of an emotional spender are you?

• Do you often buy things you end up returning?
• Do you regularly dip into your savings or overdraft to buy non-essentials?
• Do you hide purchases from your partner or people you live with?
• Are there piles of unworn clothes and unopened packages in your room?

If you answered yes to any (or all) of those, you’re not alone. A survey by the National Institute of Mental Health found that 77% of people are prone to emotionally spending.

But there are effective ways to be more mindful. We’ve rounded up some tactics to help you curb your emotional spending.

Eliminate temptation

If your card details are saved on shopping websites, remove them to add an extra layer of friction that’ll allow you to think twice about making purchases.

If your commute to work involves walking past your favourite shop, change the route. Avoid payment plan options when shopping online like ‘Buy now, pay later’, as this is a form of debt.

If you find yourself reaching for your credit card too often, only take cash out with you. Also, try to minimise the time you spend on social media and unfollow your favourite brands to limit the number of adverts you see.

Avoid impulse buys

When you’ve set your mind (and money) on something, it can be difficult to walk away. To help, set yourself a time period to think over purchases, or calculate how many hours of work it would take to pay for them. Unsubscribe from any email newsletters from brands you love.

Download the Icebox Chrome extension to help prevent impulse purchases online. It replaces the ‘Buy’ button with ‘Put it on ice’, so you won’t be able to buy until the cooling period is over, giving you time to think.

Create a budget

If you don’t already have one, a budget is a great way to prevent emotional spending.

By allocating money to different spending categories, you won’t be able to buy things you’ve not planned for. If you decide you really want something, you can free up money from another area, like swapping a taxi for public transport to pay for your new purchase.

Don’t forget to add a ‘treat’ category into your budget, since cutting out the things you enjoy isn’t realistic. If possible, allocate a pot of money towards treating yourself occasionally so you feel like you’ve earned it.

Channel your energy elsewhere

When spending is triggered by emotions, we’re buying things we think will make us feel better. But this feeling is often short-lived. See if there’s anything else you can do to give yourself the same dopamine hit.

If you overspend when you’re socialising, visit a free exhibition, museum or join a book club. You might find that your friends share the same money concerns as you, so it’s a win for everyone.

If you need to relieve stress, try to redirect your emotions into a healthier outlet, like boxing or gardening, and give those endorphins a boost.

Get to know your triggers

While these tips might help you cut back on emotional spending, it’s always best to go back to the root of the problem. Know which locations, time of day or situations trigger your unwanted spending.

If it’s a bad break-up or boredom that got you into this situation, treat the cause rather than the symptom to get your spending under control for good.

Once you know which emotions override your logic when it comes to money, you can start to confront them. You’ll be more likely to avoid situations in which these emotions usually arise and take the time to consider purchases when you’re in this frame of mind.

Remember, your investments can go up and down and you could end up with less than you started with. Past performance does not guarantee future results. The information provided is financial guidance and should not be considered financial advice.