It’s been a bad day. The kids were fighting and missed the bus, the car got dinged in the parking lot, the boss yelled at you for being late again, you realize you left your lunch on the counter, and just then your computer crashes. What else could go wrong? You need something to lift your spirits. Then, you see that just perfect… whatever… Out comes the credit card and IT is yours – ah! Now you feel better, right?

Why did you really buy that “whatever”? The next time you look at your prize purchase, do you feel a twinge of guilt, or a even bit defensive? It’s because you bought it impulsively to get a quick fix and feel better about your situation, not because of a carefully thought out plan. It was nothing more than a temporary distraction from your frustration and stress.

Symptoms of being an Impulse Buyer are if you:

• Hate shopping from a list
• Make hasty and unplanned purchases
• Feel that waiting until you save up for an item is just not an option
• Believe if you don’t buy it NOW, it will be gone
• Justify the purchase by thinking “It’s not that much…”, or “I deserve it…”
• Seldom pay cash
• Use shopping as “something to do”
• Start worrying or feel guilty shortly after you walk out of the store
• Avoid comparison shopping
• These actions are a pattern that repeats itself over and over

We can all be a sucker for a good sales pitch or an attractive item from time to time, but if any of these symptoms describe you, then you are an Impulse Buyer. You may already know that ending impulse buying is not easy. Every place you look for help tells you to just change your behavior, but these places don’t understand that most personal finance issues like impulse buying are only symptoms of a bigger problem. A good money coach can get to the heart of your impulse buying to end it forever.

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