impulsive buying

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impulsive buying

Postby Flint the Dwarf » Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:30 pm

Regale us with tales of impulsive buying, and maybe your philosophy on spending. How much of what you make do you spend on yourself? Maybe it'll make people feel better about spending the money they earn. I dunno what it is, but I always feel bad when I spend money. Maybe it's cuz I'm technically in debt, although I have enough to pay it all off, and really should. Not credit card debt, because fuck credit cards. Just some college tuition.

So I've been meaning to go to the library for like 4-5 months to get a library card, but have been busy working and never want to get out on my days off. And I've been meaning to pick up reading again to occupy the time normally allotted for drinking, cuz I'm pretty sick of drinking. And I can't read and drink, but I like reading more than drinking. Obvious solution is to get a library card. So today I finally go down there with proofs of ID and address. And guess what? THE SYSTEM IS DOWN. Dude tells me to come back in three days, which I won't do because I'll be working. So, rather than wait another week to get some books, I walk over to the local Barnes and Noble and buy Snow Crash and American Gods. And why not a book light while I'm at it. So I walk out, and remember there's an EB Games nearby, so what the hell. I walk over and walk out with Shining Force Neo. And then I'm kinda hungry, so I spend $9 on a burrito. I eat fast food like once every 6 months, I deserve it.

So I spent a little over $70 today. But I haven't really bought anything for myself since my bass, months ago. Well, concert tickets too. I dunno, though, it feels good to spend money that I've worked so hard for. But before I buy anything, I compare it to how long it took me to make the money that I'm going to spend. What I really need to cut out is small regular purchases, namely energy drinks. And maybe walking to work instead of the bus.

I also know that my spending is pocket change compared to what some people throw away.
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Postby Kusoyaro » Tue Feb 27, 2007 2:38 pm

The worst is when I went to Best Buy almost two months ago just to look at the Xbox 360 and the games available for it. I ended up buying the console the spot, but they didn't have Gears of War, so I went over to Target. Ended up buying Gears, Rainbow Six: Vegas, and the HD-DVD player add-on. That was almost $800 spent in 20 minutes. Then I went home, bought a Live account and a bunch of Live Arcade games. Almost $1000 in one Sunday afternoon.

But I've been playing Gears and Xbox Live Arcade games like a fiend, so it's been worth it.
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Postby Shazzy » Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:26 pm

I have the typical female problem of blowing 3x as much money on clothes as I planned to spend. What if I can't find that exact shirt ever again!?!?!?
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Postby Beowulf » Tue Feb 27, 2007 3:52 pm

I'm usually very very good with money. I'll save and save and walk around with the same 20 dollar bill in my pocket for two weeks, and once I get enough socked together to buy what I want, I don't scimp and spent whatever is needed.

I brought my lunch to work for 2 months and didn't buy any new clothes so I could save up for my awesome 24 inch monitor :up:
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Postby Moonlight Soldier » Tue Feb 27, 2007 6:08 pm

I rarely go out shopping so when I do buy things I tend to buy a lot at once.

I don't however, spend money I don't have.

And recently, I've bought some big purchases, train tickets, plane tickets, clothes (I rarely buy) so I haven't been buying the little things I usually do, like books and music.

Usually I just hoard all the money I make into the bank and when I do go out I just have such a free for all that I satisfy my spending habits in one go.

I support spoiling yourself every now and again ^^.
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Postby Fall_Child42 » Tue Feb 27, 2007 7:03 pm

I am usually VERY conservative with money. but i get into these "Spending grooves" and spend a shit ton for 2 weeks or so then STOP DEAD again.

A handy hint i got was this.

"You had to work for an hour to get that $8 (or whatever), is the enjoyment out of buying that thing going to be greater than all of the hours of work nessacary to buy it?"
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Postby Flint the Dwarf » Tue Feb 27, 2007 7:16 pm

Fall_Child42 wrote:"You had to work for an hour to get that $8 (or whatever), is the enjoyment out of buying that thing going to be greater than all of the hours of work nessacary to buy it?"

Yeah, that's basically what I meant by

But before I buy anything, I compare it to how long it took me to make the money that I'm going to spend.
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Postby dokool » Tue Feb 27, 2007 7:21 pm

Tokyo is a horrible city for impulse spenders, especially since a lot of stores have point cards (which trick you into believing that you're making money back on what you spend). The fact that I have to go to Shibuya every day for class doesn't help matters at all, since I always had the 'well, I'm here, might as well pick up X' way of thought. Examples:

-The Tower Records in Shibuya is having a double-point sale right now (normally you get one point for every 500 yen you spend, but from Friday till Today you get two), so when I went there to pick up a CD I ended up getting two CDs and three DVDs. And all so that when my point card eventually gets filled (which would require spending 25,000 yen during the sale, or 50,000 yen otherwise) I'll get 3,000 yen back.

-Then you have Bic Camera's system, where everything you spend gives you a certain percentage of points back - some things give you 8%, others give you 10%, and occasionally 15% or 20%. You can choose to either save your points, or spend them like they were yen. I've managed to accrue about 33,000 points on my card, which is an indication of how much money I've spent there (although to be fair, a good chunk of that was on appliances for my apartment, plus I got lucky and my printer gave me 20%).

I had a little freakout yesterday over the ATM not giving me cash (resolved, thank god - I can finally log onto my bank's website and I'm still flush with cash), so I'm probably cutting down on spending for a bit of time anyway. That'll change once I finally get my visa worked out and can get a God Damned Cellphone...
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Postby Fall_Child42 » Tue Feb 27, 2007 8:23 pm

Flint the Dwarf wrote:
Fall_Child42 wrote:"You had to work for an hour to get that $8 (or whatever), is the enjoyment out of buying that thing going to be greater than all of the hours of work nessacary to buy it?"

Yeah, that's basically what I meant by

But before I buy anything, I compare it to how long it took me to make the money that I'm going to spend.


You know theres a very interesting Psychological phenomonon dealing with attention where someone will read somthing and it just won't register.
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Postby Ileia » Tue Feb 27, 2007 8:26 pm

I dropped $300 the first week of working at the Mall of America.

:uhoh:
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Postby Arigatomina » Tue Feb 27, 2007 8:57 pm

Moonlight Soldier wrote:Usually I just hoard all the money I make into the bank and when I do go out I just have such a free for all that I satisfy my spending habits in one go.

I support spoiling yourself every now and again ^^.

Yes. That's what I do, too.

I think the worst spree I went on was at Yaoi-con last year. I saved up with the intention of blowing a wad of cash in a very short amount of time. I ended up blowing 5 paychecks in two hours on doujinshi. I would have spent more if I'd brought a bigger suit case with me. I'd given myself a "secret" amount to put on the credit card if necessary and I barely ended up having to resort to that. I bought everything I saw that I was remotely interested in. Because I could.

I *tried* to go on a spending spree for christmas. I ignored prices and grabbed the obligatory gifts only to realize I'd spent less on that 'spree' than I do on a month's worth of diapers for my sister's kid. It was very depressing.

Typically I'll just live cheap for a month or two and then splurge on some $50 online purchase. Or $8 for chinese take out every few weeks.

I'm a very cheap person. I have some sort of wiring in my head that won't let me get even an *urge* to spend money unless I have more than enough saved up already. Or it's a once-in-forever opportunity. I like to spoil myself on food - if I get the urge for milk, by God I'll get some immediately. But if I actually bought normal groceries, that wouldn't even count as a special treat.

I blame my family. They spend what they don't have on things they don't need and then whine about not having enough for bills. I see that and sneer. I'm a jaded penny pincher who has to have enough money to buy whatever I want whenever I want it - and that's fine because I almost never want anything. ^_^;

Note: I hate shopping unless I know exactly what I'm looking to buy. I go in, buy it, and get out as quickly as possible. There's no temptation to linger, no unexpected urges to have something I didn't go there to buy.
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Re: impulsive buying

Postby Arigatomina » Tue Feb 27, 2007 9:11 pm

Flint the Dwarf wrote:How much of what you make do you spend on yourself?

I never thought of that. Makes me want to write down exactly how much I spend for a few months and see where it all goes.

I think I spend 60% on myself. That's rent/insurance/obligatory bills, food and necessities, and random cash blown on stupid things like fast food. The rest I'm not sure of - probably 30% on food and diapers for my sisters's kid (babysitter thing) and 10% on nightly snacks for my mother (it's tax season). I'm single and support myself. If I didn't live so close to my family 100% of what I earned would be spent on myself. The only donations I make are to my mother's church and the org and those are randomly and rarely given. Maybe if I had a real job that paid normal wages, I'd spend more money on other people.
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Postby Otohiko » Tue Feb 27, 2007 9:25 pm

Buying? What's that?

Not that I'm immune to it, but it very rarely happens - and in limited amounts. In Russia I did spend a grand total of 2500 roubles on books/DVDs/computer games (which equals a shocking... $100), 2000 roubles on sightseeing expenses and 1000 roubles on a random but cool gift to a friend, but that's about as 'extreme' as it got with me. I'm very conscious of not spending my money unless the deal is good and the item I judge neccesary. I can in fact go on for months not buying anything for myself excepting perhaps occasional snacks. In the year of 2005 I made the grand total of ONE personal entertainment purchase - my beloved game Silent Hunter III for $40. That was basically it from what I can recall.

I don't know if this makes sense or not in the context of western consumerism; for me, growing up in advanced poverty made it easy for me to NOT spend money. It didn't, on the other hand, make me greedy - I drop money easily when such is available and reasonable, but frankly I rarely see reasonable needs to do so. I'd rather save it for that random gift I can drop on whoever at the right moment.

It has its benefits though. Since now money comes to me in greater amounts (not that I'm getting richer - debts ahoy), I actually have more opportunities for impulse buying, but I've worked out a certain discipline not to; on the other hand, when something needs to be bought, I don't hesitate much.
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Postby Otohiko » Tue Feb 27, 2007 9:30 pm

Oh, as for the answer to the original question, ehhh...

What's "yourself"?

Let's see, out of 15,000 canadian that made it into my hands this year, I spend 5500 on tuition + books, 6000 on living expenses, 1500 on trip to Russia, 500 on fixing my f'cking computer, 1000 was taken by the government for stupid loan repayment (and I dare hope it be returned); that leaves me with about $500 that I can spend on moi, or loan out to relatives if needed. The latter is usually the case.
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Postby jasper-isis » Tue Feb 27, 2007 10:25 pm

My parents pay for my tuition (for now), but money for almost everything else I buy nowadays comes out of my own pocket. I try to save as much as I can with the little commodities, but sometimes it's hard to refrain from buying basketball tickets or going out for dinner when you're surrounded by friends with parent-endowed credit cards.

Also, I love shoes, and online shopping at shoe stores is WAY TOO ADDICTIVE. Especially at places like Zappos or Endless where overnight shipping and returns are free. I've literally, in the past four weeks, ordered NINE pairs of shoes on separate occasions. And I've returned all but one pair upon remembering each separate time that I wasn't about to walk around grounds in 4" stiletto heels or lace ballet flats. :|
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