5 Tricks to Dodge Seasonal Impulse Purchases

The holiday season sends many Americans into a buying frenzy, often leading to unnecessary purchases and excessive spending. 

According to one study, the average American consumer admitted to making two to three impulse purchases each week, which added up to a whopping $5,400 per year. Holiday shopping, with its big sales and festive-themed discounts, can also be a significant trigger for these impulsive spenders.

Many consumers are carrying credit card debt going into the gift-buying season and are expected to rack up even more. So, being mindful of what you buy and how much you spend and using your willpower to dodge sale temptations will be key to starting the New Year off on a better financial path.

Here are five simple things you can do to dodge seasonal impulse purchases.

Giving into an impulse purchase is more likely when you have no idea of just how much money you’ve already spent on holiday gifts and other seasonal expenses. That’s why it’s important to keep track of every single item you buy throughout the holiday season. 

This way, you can check in on your purchases and make better buying decisions to avoid overspending. Visualizing how much money you’ve laid out through the season can help deter those unnecessary impulse buys. 

You can use an app such as RocketMoney to link all your financial accounts, including credit cards and buy now pay later services, in one place so you can quickly access a spending snapshot at any given moment. 

To easily track only your gift purchases, tap into the Santa’s Bag app, where you can keep a running tally of gifts you’ve bought and your actual spending throughout the season. 

Impulse purchases are often spurred by a deal — perhaps even one that seems too good to be true. So, if you can’t resist a sale, you need to figure out how to avoid them. 

The best way to keep deals from enticing you to spend is to cut off communication with retailers. This could look like unsubscribing from store email newsletters and turning off push notifications for any of your retail or deal apps. 

In more extreme cases, you may need to take a break from shopping in person to avoid those tempting product displays. Instead, you could order online and choose curbside pick up so you stick to your list (and budget) and buy nothing more!

Spaving is when you spend more money to save more money. While it may seem like the bigger the discount, the better the deal, this common savings tactic will lead to wasteful and unnecessary purchases. 

Spaving could look like buying two sweaters to get one free, increasing your online cart total to reach the free shipping minimum, or buying a few more items to get a bigger dollar discount on your total purchase. 

In the end, you’re still spending money you didn’t plan to spend, and this is just a way of trying to justify more impulse purchases. No matter how cheap something is, it’s probably still a waste if you don’t need it. Stick to your list and don’t let big discount claims influence your purchase decision. 

One-click purchasing methods offered on apps, social media platforms, and online retail sites offer a convenient way to shop, but that simplicity can trigger more impulse purchases. That’s because you can act on emotion and desire without much thought, only to realize later that whatever you bought wasn’t necessary or out of your budget.

In some cases, though, you may be stuck with the item that isn’t eligible for return or get stuck paying a return shipping fee. 

To avoid this scenario, consider deleting any credit card payment details you have stored in online retail accounts and digital wallets. The time it takes you to fetch your physical credit card and type in all of your details should give you a chance to rethink the purchase before it leads to regret.

While credit cards offer sweet rewards during the holidays, cash back incentives may be causing you to buy more impulsively. According to Bread Financial’s latest Holiday QuickTake Report, 52% of shoppers say earning rewards and cash back on holiday purchases could entice them to spend more. 

Not to mention, paying with a credit card often leads to increased purchase amounts if you have even an inkling of an “I can pay for it later” mindset. To limit impulse purchases, it may be best to pay with cash since you can’t spend any more than you go to the store with.

If you take cash and leave the credit cards at home (or locked in your digital wallet), you can budget before you hit the stores and not have a big financial cushion to fall back on when an impulse purchase comes along.

The holiday season is a time of giving, and sometimes we can get carried away while shopping. Whether impulse purchases are for ourselves or we’re playing Santa for others, your January credit card statement may not leave you feeling too jolly.

Hopefully, these tips can help you stick to a budget, even when you pay with your credit card. And sometimes, just being aware of your desire to make impulse purchases as you shop can be enough to help you avoid them.