How do you deal with the urge to impulse purchase? - Topic of the day 9/7/23
Whether it's FOMO from that instagram ad, that tiktok video, or that waywt post, we've all had urges to buy something before carefully considering if we actually need it. How did you stop yourself from that impulse purchase? What strategies have you developed to keep your wallet in check? How did you overcome your shopping addiction? What advice do you have to stop this dopamine chasing?
82 Replies
I cycle hard as I can uphill until I feel nauseous.
I have no money
Also I have a money pot to make clothing purchases out of that has a fixed amount put in it each month, or can be topped up by selling something.
I'm a firm believer in retail therapy but temper it with clothing that can be sold with relative ease
Whether that's cheap thrifty stuff than can be sold at buffalo or more expensive designer I know will move on grailed, ebay, etc
Also I just don't get the urge to impulse purchase unless I'm extremely caffeinated
Breaking even or even losing a little feels like a fair price to pay for essentially rent something for a year or so
If I don't wear it in a season/year's time I'll sell it so I'm not hoarding stuff
sometimes i just be buying things, sometimes i be responsible
I buy little things to ease the feeling of wanting to drop $200+ on one purchase
if its a drop brand you kinda gotta impulse purchase but a lot of them have decent resell anyway
None of my advice is geared toward stopping impulse purchasing just using impulses responsibly
It’s bad right now, being able to sell stuff somewhat helps. Doesn’t help that the things i like are rather limited in supply and tend to be available second hand.
My real strategy when I was more conscious with my consumption is for online purchases: Keep items in cart and add all the things you feel compelled to buy. if you forget about them after a couple days/week, you probably won’t buy them. And yes, let those deals or stock run out. I usually buy things if they’ve been in my head for a month
let the impulse flow through you
shop sal today
i think a basic thing is you need to be able to visualize some fits with the item
I impulse buy alot and don’t plan on stopping anytime soon
Overdraft notifications mostly
wait a few weeks and assess afterward if I actually like it.
I am not playing the hyped release go go go game
This is retail therapy/shopping addiction: the server
Actually, r/fmf is shopping addiction
Bros be buying things just to buy them
i feel attacked for having purchased something from j.crew for the first time in a few months today
Bros be buying 7 j crew secret wash shirts
Oops
oop
gonna go wallow in pain now
most times i avoid impulse buys by sleeping on it. usually forget about the item i was looking at the next day
if i'm still thinking about it over multiple days then i'll look into maybe copping
it wasn't an impulsive purchase and i therefore have done something defensible
In actuality, I have a list of clothing items that I'm actively looking for (Usually pulling influence from lookbooks/people I follow/people I see on the street). When I see a sick deal, I cross reference that list and if it's not something I'm actively looking for, I usually pass.
smart
I just buy it…
😢
i wait til my mom gets a call from the bank usually to stop
I impulsively bought a bowl with cats on it and a denim shirt with the snap buttons 
Bruh
Get other people to buy the thing for themselves instead of me, also I find saying "look at this thing" and getting a negative reaction to it definitely eliminates 50% of impulse buys.
there are people out there who buy clothes for fit pics then return/sell clothes 😭
I just keep track of my spending on clothing separately from other things. I also legitimately enjoy reselling so I use that to fund my own spending habits.
I run all my purchases through my wife, generate labyrinthine mental gymnastics to justify it
I see how much people spend on clothes here and don’t feel that bad about my own purchases
she's way too accomodating
I'm built different
Remember that everything you buy you then have to maintain
I had to wash the boys today bc they were getting dusty
All your cashmere shit is a pain in the ass to clean
Etc
so true bestie
my cashmere/rayon/silk shirt is the softest thing known to man but also impossible to clean
I have two silk/rayon shirts that I'm always hyped about wearing every summer, but because they're the most delicate hand wash only things, I get maybe 2 wears a year
Everyone has a different budget tho
I definitely had to reprogram myself from the FMF/chinese buy because it's cheap mentality. I treat everything like a tattoo, if I'm still thinking about it after a long time I'll get it
I passed over a pair of monitaly parachutes because I thought they were ugly, but I couldn't stop thinking about them so they're actually coming in today lol
Oooh post
Ugly and sick straddle a very fine line
It’s difficult to figure out
sometimes ugly is also sick
Sugly
That’s true there’s sick ugly and bad ugly
I think u mean camp and heinous
no we mean sugly and bugly
hmm
I buy on impulse often but since I only buy from one brand, and only buy used, I usually know a good deal when I see one and only pull the trigger when I know I can recoup entirely or make a profit if I need to sell.
I usually get fixated on a piece at a time (for a while it was brown cords), then look it up on ebay and such for days to get it out of my system; usually I forget about it, but if it remains stuck in my mind I get it (I think I'm gonna get cords soon lol)
I support getting cords
i buy on impulse somewhat regularly because a lot of what i like unpredictably pops up on jp sites
mainly though i try not to auto cop -- that is like, see it and instantly buy. i always pump the breaks for a couple hours at least to make sure i really want it. And make sure there's not a nicer version i may like more later.
i also budget so i know how much i can spend a month without guilt
Yeah I buy the vast amount of my clothing second hand or at sample sales so there’s an inherent impulsiveness always. But I nearly always can resell what I buy for profit so I haven’t been burned yet.
I also have a list of what I’m allowed to buy new
Used is a different beast
Simply accept the temptations the universe provides.
It’s a gift. A sign.
I have no guilt about impulse buying inexpensive items on eBay or at the thrift, I can always resell/donate if it doesn't work out. But I do feel bad about the FMF days of buying cheap J Crew just because I thought I was supposed to own it, it's how I ended up with slim fit chinos in 8 different colors lmao. Figuring out my personal style more has helped because now I'm less likely to buy something just cause someone else links it
I think Sal put it really succinctly, if you buy something and resell it and break even or lose a little then you're essentially renting the item
In times where I've wanted to cut down on impulse purchases, I found something that really helped was keeping a cop list in my phone notes and only impulse buying things that were on the list. Or if I saw something I liked, put it in my cart and wait a week and come back to it. Often I found that I didn't really want it after only a week
I call a press conference, stand at the podium, and say "lessons will be learnt". Then buy a new jacket in a few months time
May I present: My 2nd day on MFA
damn, I was helpless
Oh my goodness the amount of V necks
I attempted to go purchase free this year and I made it till the end of July. However in general, I keep a Jawnz account for things on my running list, and a Splurge account for impulse purchases and when I feel like I need to DoorDash. Sometimes this doesn’t work and I dip into the savings 😭
i deal with it by BUYING !!!
when in doubt... CONSUME
I've been dealing with impulse buying by giving myself some permission to do it, but keeping the cost down. Been buying a lot on ebay lately.
Honestly I sometimes have the opposite problem with being overly conservative and not buying things ever
same here. i save money even when i don't need to/need new things
I do sometimes struggle with settling for cheaper things that don't end up working though. So I try to save up/wait for nicer things
I bookmark it and wait weeks for it. If i want it so bad still then ill buy it
I would like to get to a place where I have the basics covered, and can switch to buying higher-quality stuff more infrequently, and only buy things I love.
but where I am now, impulse buying isn't such a terrible thing, honestly.
although, I probably need to get smarter about using eBay.
It could be worse...I may be about to impulse buy a new kitchen.
I do this too.
Ebay has a bit of a learning curve to it but super worth it once you dial in your search and negotiation methods
yeah...I'm learning. Had some early success, made some mistakes.
I need to get my measurements dialed in.
I am unable to restrain myself from impulse buying
The adhd brain
Also I grew up without a lot of money and now I have some disposable income and it feels incredibly liberating to just want a thing and then... buy it
Some people who grew up poor tend to stay frugal. Not me bitches
I mean, if you feel vaguely guilty buying clothes, you're going to have a bad time hanging out in MFA.
Oh I still have the guilt I just do it anyway
that's the spirit!
I did buy quiet a lot recently but I feel like those purchases were worth it and filled some important gaps in my wardrobe
I’ve gotten much better about not making impulse buys. I don’t know if it’s self control, or the fact that I am running out of closet space.
@tijelu I'm the exact same LMAOOO
One thing that does drive me to more purchases recently is that I have a pretty good idea of what I want to improve my wardrobe. There is a desire here to basically finish it (which I know isn't a thing). I think I'm probably going on a buying stopp for now to appriciate what I recently bought
That's a good strategy! I'm also running out of closet space.
I think I'm going on a buying break for this month
No cop November