RETAIL therapy is a real thing and we quickly find ourselves repeating this spending trick because it works.
While it’s totally fine for fixing short term unhappiness, it would be even better pairing it with tactics to control this habit before it hurts your financial happiness.
Firstly, your financial well-being is regardless of income and not fully defined by objective financial measures.
Instead, well-being is described as having financial security and financial freedom of choice, in the present and in the future.
In other words, it is your control over your finances with the capacity to absorb a financial shock and the ability to make choices to enjoy life while being on track to meeting your financial goals.
Social and economic factors can easily influence your financial well-being.
How you think and feel, what you know and do and the kind of options available guide your financial behaviour.
So when we decide to “shop under the influence”, be it from stress at work or a just feeling down, it’s that we don’t have control and choice in other aspects of our lives, and this act of shopping returns that sense of security and freedom.
While your purchase comes with an initial sense of gratification or even the feeling of “bargaintopia.”
What about when a little time passes? Was there any sacrifice you needed to make to make that purchase?
Do you have buyer’s remorse from an impulse buy? You could even end up suffering from “post-purchase trauma”.
One powerful solution to this problem is to cultivate a strong existence of control and choice in our lives.
To give yourself a well-being raise without being a bane to your budget, consider these few ways that really work.
Blow off steam with other “happiness activities”. Identify the other little things in your life that bring you a burst of happiness.
Build a repertoire of those that bring a positive effect and don’t damage your finances, then use them whenever you start feeling stressed or upset.
You can even consider the power of focused breathing the next time you receive a frustrating email from your boss or get into an argument with a loved one.
Another way is to focus on other people instead of yourself. Giving time and attention to others in need can help boost your mood and offer perspective on your current circumstances.
Step back from damaging relationships. While we can’t control what other people think or do, no matter how much we try, if you are in a situation with people who make you feel out of control or stress you out, step back from those relationships as much as you can.
If you have friends whose solution to everything is to go shopping or spend money drinking at the bar, then you owe it to yourself to either address that friend directly or to dial down that friendship (preferably the former, but I know it can be hard).
Spending money with a friend is not the solution to life’s problems, and a friend that encourages that behaviour is damaging to your pocket and damaging your ability of dealing with problems.
Stop worrying and act now. The past cannot be changed and the future is uncertain, so don’t worry about it. While it is useful to reflect on the past to avoid making the same mistakes, concentrate on what you can do today that can make the path forward better.
For example, if you’re worried about losing your job, what can you do right now to secure it? Is there anything you can do right now to improve your skills or resume?
Those are things you can control, whereas the decision of an employer isn’t. Remember to focus on what you can control in this scenario and don’t worry about what you can’t.
Get really good sleep. One of the effects of a lack of sleep is an exhausted sense of self-control. As that self-control weakens, we act more on instinct or impulse, which can often lead to bad decisions. So, strive to get a good night’s sleep, tonight and every night.
It’s also not a good idea to do your online shopping just before bedtime. There have been many cases of buyers’ remorse in the morning because they accidentally nodded off to sleep and clicked the ‘Buy Now’ button.
You do not want to wake up having bought that expensive cast iron pan when you don’t cook. On the other hand, now would be a great time to take up cooking as therapy.
Yes, spending as a tool to boost your mood is a powerful instrument for coping with the daily stresses of life, and it doesn’t help that we have instant access to online shopping, easy access to shopping malls and the availability of credit cards.
However, if you take action to address both the cause of unhappiness and developing alternative mood elevators, you’ll find yourself wasting a lot less money, drawing happiness from other areas of your life and balancing a healthy financial state of well-being.
Zoë Moraes is the marketing & content manager of https://www.comparehero.my/ dedicated to increasing financial literacy and helping you save time and money by comparing credit cards, personal loans and broadband plans in Malaysia.
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