How big a payday loan do you need? How much instant cash are you looking for? The average payday loans online are anywhere from fifty dollars to a few hundred dollars. The average American spends about one hundred dollars per week on impulse buys.
What we are going to show you here is how to curb your desire to make those impulse buys, but rest assured, it will not be easy, especially when you realize that marketing firms spend literally billions of dollars figuring out how to trigger your impulses and get you to purchase things you do not even need.
What are Impulse Buys and How Costly is it?
Where can I borrow $5000 instantly? The average annual cost per person for impulse purchases is about $5,400.00 dollars. That is not how much a family will spend, but the average person – meaning about half the people will spend a little less, and about half the people will spend more than that, on things they never intended to buy to begin with.
In a lifetime, the average American will spend roughly $340,000.00 buying things they had no intention of buying and things they could easily have lived without. Would an additional fifty-four hundred bucks help see you through the year a little easier? Yeah, we thought so too.
What is Impulse Marketing
Human nature is a funny thing, and something that has been studied heavily since the onset of the age of enlightenment, and perfected throughout the years. You can find all sorts of crazy conspiracy theories about social engineering and mind control, but the reality is that this is most commonly referred to as marketing.
The master of propaganda is a gentleman by the name of Edward Bernays, someone not so distantly related to a more famous man by the name of Sigmund Freud. Even if Freud is virtually a household name, Bernays preferred to remain more in the background, seeking out ways to control large swathes of the population, and convince them to do things regardless of whether or not they wanted to in the first place.
In one of the first displays for the efficacy of social engineering as an art or science, Edward Bernays was challenged to encourage women to smoke. Yeah, seriously. There was a day and age when such habits were largely limited to men, but hey, that was a different time and place. Edward Bernays was challenged to change that.
Thus, rather than marketing cigarettes, he began marketing “torches of freedom”, encouraging women to assert their independence by smoking, showing that they were not subject to mere men or a society run by men. Sound familiar?
While it may be controversial and even conspiratorial to suggest that any governments have ever actively engaged in social engineering, there should be little doubt about its overall impact on society. Regardless of whether or not there has ever been any active attempt by any government to control the masses, the work of Edward Bernays laid the groundwork for what would commonly come to be known as sales and marketing.
Why Do People Make Impulse Buys?
Likely the biggest reason so many people spend so much money on impulse buys is because marketing firms spend literally billions of dollars testing and figuring out how you are going to respond.
Even before the days of computers, marketing companies would track meta data, habits, and track and chart and analyze groups of people as well as individuals, just to figure out what triggered emotional responses and created urges and desires. With computers and smart devices, there job has become increasingly easier and more efficient.
Do you use Siri or Alexa? They never forget anything you have done, wanted, or expressed even a passing interest in when you used those “free” services. Do you own a smart phone? Do you have “smart” devices in your home? Do you use social media? Yup, the marketing and sales people have a really good idea of exactly what they need to do to trigger emotional responses and get you to dip into your wallet.
Why are Impulse Purchases Bad?
If you are less inclined to make impulse purchases and you are on the bottom end of the average or median spectrum, chances are pretty good that you are less likely to need access to instant cash online or elsewhere in your life except maybe when you have a financial emergency.
Those people who are more inclined to make impulse purchases are more likely to need to find a good place to get instant cash loans online or off. These people are also more likely to have a difficult time living on a budget, getting good credit scores, and even finding it more difficult to rebuild and repair credit scores once they have begun to allow their emotions to control their spending habits.
In short, if you do not learn how to control your impulses and stop buying things you do not need, you may very well discover that you will continue to be dependent on instant cash loans online and other payday loan services.
How do I Recognize and Record Impulse Buys?
The first thing you need to do is to purchase a little pocket notepad and keep it in your car at least, or preferably in your pocket. If you go to the convenience store to buy gas, and you end up buying a doughnut, a cup of coffee, and a couple of scratch off tickets, well write it all down.
If you do not want anyone to know what you are doing, don’t write down what you purchased, but make sure to record the date and the amount. When you are in the grocery store, the same thing applies. You found that roast on sale and bought it? Write it down. Your kid grabbed the candy bar and you bought it just so they would not cry? Write it down.
By recording all of your extra purchases, you will see how quickly those nickels and dimes add up to dollars and sense – yes, sense, not cents. Only when you recognize how much money you could have left over at the end of the month – instead of constantly finding yourself with so much month left at the end of the money, will you be able to seriously tackle your spending habits and change them for the better.
How do I Stop Making Impulse Purchases?
Once you figure out roughly how much money you are spending needlessly, start setting goals for yourself. How much do your expenses add up to in a year? How much cheaper is that mug of coffee from home than that cup from the brand name coffee shop? Stop with the luxuries and start with long-term goals.
What do you want to get your kids for Christmas? For your mom? For your significant other? What do you want for Christmas? Even if you just put that money in the bank, you could easily discover that you now have five or six thousand dollars safely tucked away for the holiday season or even for vacation.
How much does that boat you want cost? How much will it cost to set yourself or your spouse up in that new home-based business you have been dreaming about throughout the course of the latest lockdown? Make realistic and attainable goals, and stop spending all that money on unnecessary goods, and it will provide you not only with the ability, but a vested interest in getting rid of impulse purchases.
Will Keeping Records Help Me Budget My Money?
Another thing you will notice if you are keeping records of your impulse spending, is how easy it really is to keep accurate records of all your expenditures and everything you pay money for with your income. This is a very important step in learning how to budget your money and finances, and also to live within your means while at the same time improving your financial situation.
How Important is Budgeting
Cutting out five or six thousand dollars a year from your expenses is a great start. What if you could save even more money though? What if you could cut your grocery bill by 25% to 45%? What if you could pay off that thirty-year mortgage in less than ten years? What if I told you all of that was not only possible, but quite easy if you actively budget your money and live within your means?
Even better still, properly budgeting your money does not mean living on top ramen, but being able to have the best beef for your barbecue, and having great vacations, while at the same time improving your financial situation. Debt and credit are both necessary and important aspects of your financial life, but just like your physical health, you need to learn to take care of them, so that they can help take care of you.