We all like shopping. Shopping makes us happy. For some it feels like the world is better after shopping. All these feelings add up to overspending.
Overspending is not a disease, but a habit which needs to be restrained at the earliest or else you may end up in huge pile of debt. Huge debt can lead to bankruptcy and this may further lead to stress and health issues. Therefore, overspending must be curbed at the first trigger.
Countless studies have been done to understand consumer behaviour and were revealed that 50%
of the bankruptcies are filed due to debt. It is important to know that bad habits can cause collateral damage if we don’t take actions to resolve it. If you are someone who is facing issues with managing your debt, don’t beat yourself up. Fortunately, there are ways to control your habit.
Triggers to know you are overspending
You might have wondered why people around you are asking you to stop shopping or eating out so much.This is probably because they feel that you are not realising your spending habit is putting you in troubles. There are lot of ways through which you can know that you are spending habits are
getting worse day by day. These triggers can help you recognize your spending behaviour.
● Are you worried when you are spending? – This is the first trigger for you. The only reason
you are feeling guilty is because somewhere at the back of your mind you know that you
have already spent a lot in the last few days or months and this is only adding to your bill,
but you are still doing it.
● Are your cards declining? This is not a very good impression when you are standing in a
store. People start looking at you whenever your card is declined in a store. If it is happening
regularly for you, it’s time to start thinking.
● Are you just making minimum payments? The only reason you are making minimum
payments every month is because you don’t have enough money to pay in full or at least
above the minimum payment. This is a big trigger!
● Are you ignoring your credit card bills? This will only happen if you don’t want to look how
much you owe to the bank, which is most certainly beyond your paying capacity. Moreover banks has nowadays simplified the process of making payment mostly people are using SBI credit cards and they have provided you with many online payment methods like NEFT,Mobile Banking or EPB despite of having so much ease if you are not paying the bill that is definitely not good.Ignoring your credit card statement is not a good thing to do and definitely a sign to tell that the damage has been done.
● Are you spending because your income is rising? If you are doing so, then there is definitely
a problem. Don’t make a raise the reason to overspend, but an opportunity to save more.
● Are you spending more on entertainment? Spending more on fun activities and ignoring
your monthly expenditures is not a very good habit. If you are spending on a dress
disregarding your monthly expenditures, you are overspending.
If the answer to all these questions is a yes then you seriously need to find ways to curb the habit.
Ignoring these triggers will only increase your financial problems. Here are some tips that can you
help you restrain yourself:-
● Review and plan your budgets properly – Most of us do it every month, but fail to follow
them. However, if you really want to control your habit, you would have to follow it as well.
Take out time to see you much you need for your living expenses and how much debt you
owe. Plan your expenses carefully and adjust it accordingly.
● Track your spending behaviour – Before making a purchase, you must ask yourself whether you need it or not. To stop the habit of overspending, you need to know where you are spending your money and if you have to, do you have enough money to spend on it.
Understanding your spending behaviour will help you stop making purchases for the items
you don’t need it.
● Set your priorities – If you know what your priorities are, you would be able to ignore
impulse purchases. Prioritizing help you save money for future. You would have to
understand that more than spending on other things, it is important to save. Your savings can help you plan your future better.
● Use debit cards more often – Rather than relying on your credit cards every time, try and make purchases through your debit cards. This way you can restrict yourself to an amount that you can spend in a month. Credit cards often tempt you to purchase more. Sometimes you also misuse your credit card because of the leverage.
Final word
These tips will definitely help you refrain yourself from swiping your card next time. It is not easy to
completely restrain yourself from shopping. But try and make a start. Habits are addictive and very
difficult to control, but if you take one step at a time, you can surely start the wheel.
Shipra Aggarwal
Editors Note : Bad habits are the things that we do which give us instant gratification or ‘false’ pleasures. We feel guilty after we’ve overspent especially if we’ve resorted to credit to do it. I This can become a cycle of getting deeper in debt if overspending isn’t nipped in the bud. It’s no surprise that the rest of our monthly budget could be impacted and we might have to go without other things because of the purchases we made. Lastly, any pleasure we’ve experienced from buying something we can’t really afford usually doesn’t last all that long and we start regretting the purchase or wanting other things anyway.
