Impulse Purchases

[#00Buck]

Do you find yourself routinely having to talk yourself out of buying random stuff that you don't really need?

Today I saw a totally useless item in a store and went "oohhhhhhh can I see that?"

I had no need for it. It was pointless. Still I kind of wanted to buy it. 

But I knew if I did it would just sit around collecting dust and I'd wonder why I'd bought it. 

No so much buyers remorse. More like buyers apathy. 

So do you go for impulse purchases? 

What kind of crap do you buy?

Personally the stuff they put by the cash register does not tempt me except for peanut butter cups and the really trashy gossip magazines. 

[DevilBear]

I own 7 cell phones and two tablets.

Granted they were all great deals.

[Endless/Nameless]

In stores, I'm the opposite. If see something I like, I stand around hemming and hawing over it until the staff starts getting suspicious and in the end I go home without buying anything.

BUT online, if there's something I want, I WILL buy it and you cannot stop me.

[Sarcastic Coffeecup]

I don't do much impulse buying. I don't do much thought out buying.

The very few things I buy are basically just impulses I have allowed beforehand

[Astus]

I do this all the time for things like art/other products on the Internet that I don't necessarily need, but want to have... it's a pretty bad habit that has drained bank account a few times 

[Wax]

I tend not to talk myself out of impulse buys, unless I know they're incredibly stupid. I do impulse buy purchases that are an absolute steal. I needed new trainers, so got a pair of brand new vans for £20, when I saw them in the actual shop for £47.

I spent £50 on two vinyl releases of a new album by one of my favourite bands recently. Although £50 is tame, I get paid £230 a month, and half of it goes towards my car insurance so it's a lot of money in hindsight,

[DrGravitas]

The last thing I consider an "impulse" purchase was in October. I deliberated on it for about 4 hours, while meandering around nearby shops, before ultimately deciding to drop the cash in what was a fairly unique situation for me. I consider it an impulse because such a purchase would normally involve weeks or months of on/off consideration.

[#00Buck]

4 hours ago, DevilBear said:

I own 7 cell phones and two tablets.

Granted they were all great deals.

Do you conference call yourself?

4 hours ago, Endless/Nameless said:

In stores, I'm the opposite. If see something I like, I stand around hemming and hawing over it until the staff starts getting suspicious and in the end I go home without buying anything.

BUT online, if there's something I want, I WILL buy it and you cannot stop me.

That you're going to rob the place or mess up the washroom?

2 hours ago, Wax said:

I tend not to talk myself out of impulse buys, unless I know they're incredibly stupid. I do impulse buy purchases that are an absolute steal. I needed new trainers, so got a pair of brand new vans for £20, when I saw them in the actual shop for £47.

I spent £50 on two vinyl releases of a new album by one of my favourite bands recently. Although £50 is tame, I get paid £230 a month, and half of it goes towards my car insurance so it's a lot of money in hindsight,

Wow that's a lot of squiggles. 

41 minutes ago, DrGravitas said:

The last thing I consider an "impulse" purchase was in October. I deliberated on it for about 4 hours, while meandering around nearby shops, before ultimately deciding to drop the cash in what was a fairly unique situation for me. I consider it an impulse because such a purchase would normally involve weeks or months of on/off consideration.

You're so spontaneous and wild! 

[Kinare]

My biggest issue is when I know I have a lot of money coming in of overtime, I start making plans for that money and then end up buying some other things I don't really need on the side, just really want. Sometimes that's ok, sometimes it's not... The most recent impulse purchases I made I had to return 2 of 3 cuz hours got cut back to normal, then my client got sick so I lost an entire week of work, and not being homeless/foodless is more important than cool things.

Other than times like that, I'm really good about controlling my purchases. If I have extra money, Steam sales have been known to get me to spend, but that's it and the last couple big sales I bought absolutely nothing because I was so focused on building my savings account back up.

[Zeke]

Last impulse purchase was a MoBo on sale since I needed to get it anyway for my new build.

[GarthTheWereWolf]

I do impulse traveling.

I get stressed from work. Have a few too many Crown n Cokes on my couch then suddenly, whoops I'm on hotels.com and just dropped half my paycheck on a weekend trip to Vegas or Mexico or some other place far far away from my life. :þ

[TrishaCat]

A while back I bought and ordered this shirt as an impulse purchase since I thought it was cute.

I've regretted it since.

[Newt]

I impulse buy video games that are on sale.

[Vae]

Sometimes.
But it's never huge expenses, so it doesn't really pose a risk to anything.

My limit on "impulse spending" is generally $30 or less a trip.
At the Renaissance, I might spend $50 - 60 on something nice that I don't necessarily need, but that's more along the line of the attached experience and memory. And I've gotten better about keeping that to shit I'll actually use, anyway.

Anything truly expensive, I tend to debate on for month(s) with extensive research, before I actually throw down money.

[Gamedog]

I impulse buy shit all the time

in the last three days I've spent over $100 on shit 

[FlynnCoyote]

My electric guitar was an impulse buy. Never played an instrument outside school before that.

At current progress I estimate I'll be able to play it in about ten years. Only cost me two hundred for the setup so I consider that worth it.

[Spot]

If I had the money I'd buy a lot more out of impulse. But since I'm a poorfag I have to cover my needs first then consider my wants with the money I have left.

[weirdfox]

I buy a lot out of impulse, mostly console games. My collection is way to big oO

[Endless/Nameless]

10 hours ago, #00Buck said:

That you're going to rob the place or mess up the washroom?

Probably both tbh.

[LazerMaster5]

NES BELT!

Hot Topic is hazardous to your wallet.

[Vallium]

Food, specifically snacks and drinks and fast food >.>

Huge financial drain over time

[Wax]

4 minutes ago, WolfNightV4X1 said:

Food, specifically snacks and drinks and fast food >.>

Huge financial drain over time

I used to go to this expensive supermarket next to my work to get lunch and stuff when I would go on break. I managed to spend about £100 a month on it, which was wayyy too much, and I just started bringing packed lunches or not eating at all.

[Vallium]

1 hour ago, Sylver said:

I'm the complete opposite.

Many years ago my parents often gave us $5-30 when we went to the mall. One sibling bought collectable items, food, magazines, toys/trinkets, or other items. The other sibling bought lots of food, candy (primarily bubblegum), and several other items; mostly sugary food. I rarely spent more than a dollar or two, if anything. My siblings very rarely left with more than a few cents, perhaps a dollar or two. 

Strangely, almost every time my siblings caught me looking at an item they encouraged me to buy it.

The compulsion to purchase something is completely foreign to me. I analyse an item's utility and the various aspects of my life it interacts with; what effect could it have? Am I aware of all the options/alternatives?

Unfortunately it takes fucking forever to make simple decisions. It has been three months and I still haven't decided whether to buy a sandwich toaster. I'm not even buying it either, I'm using my points that I accumulated over the years. I've been assessing my life and how important this item is in comparison to the other items I could buy...

Motherfucker get the damn sandwich toaster!

[#00Buck]

1 hour ago, Sylver said:

I'm the complete opposite.

Many years ago my parents often gave us $5-30 when we went to the mall. One sibling bought collectable items, food, magazines, toys/trinkets, or other items. The other sibling bought lots of food, candy (primarily bubblegum), and several other items; mostly sugary food. I rarely spent more than a dollar or two, if anything. My siblings very rarely left with more than a few cents, perhaps a dollar or two. 

Strangely, almost every time my siblings caught me looking at an item they encouraged me to buy it.

The compulsion to purchase something is completely foreign to me. I analyse an item's utility and the various aspects of my life it interacts with; what effect could it have? Am I aware of all the options/alternatives?

Unfortunately it takes fucking forever to make simple decisions. It has been three months and I still haven't decided whether to buy a sandwich toaster. I'm not even buying it either, I'm using my points that I accumulated over the years. I've been assessing my life and how important this item is in comparison to the other items I could buy...

Uptight. 

[DrGravitas]

15 hours ago, #00Buck said:

You're so spontaneous and wild! 

In my defense, the item did cost $3000. I should hope that would give anybody pause for at least that long.

That said, I'll adimt I'm a lot like Sylver with most things. Except it usually not even a question of "what else could this buy me instead?" but of "do I really want to spend money?" The answer is generally something like "No. I want money sitting in a nice pile, not a new button-down to replace my worn work shirt. The holidays are practically right around the corner so I'll just wait."

[Vae]

3 hours ago, Sylver said:

I analyse an item's utility and the various aspects of my life it interacts with; what effect could it have? Am I aware of all the options/alternatives?

Unfortunately it takes fucking forever to make simple decisions. It has been three months and I still haven't decided whether to buy a sandwich toaster. I'm not even buying it either, I'm using my points that I accumulated over the years. I've been assessing my life and how important this item is in comparison to the other items I could buy...

I do this shit a lot too.

It gets annoying.
Especially when you're stuck comparing two $20 items for an hour and a half, because you just absolutely cannot make a decision.
But you refuse to get both, because that would simply be a waste of money.

[SkyboundTerror]

It's not so much impulse as it is "oh, I've been wanting this for a while now and I have money so I might as well!"

 

But if we're talking food and cravings... yeah. 

[Alexxx-Returns]

eBay is a terrible thing for me to have access to at all times. I impulse buy clothes and wigs all the time, but it's all stuff I need.

[Wax]

20 minutes ago, Alexxx-Returns said:

eBay is a terrible thing for me to have access to at all times. I impulse buy clothes and wigs all the time, but it's all stuff I need.

There are some hella good deals on ebay, to be fair.

[Thundeere]

I bought a pair of fake beats off of eBay once. I might still have them actually. I remember that they like a pair of airline headphones painted over with pretty swagalicious colors

[Conker]

I very rarely impulse buy things. I'd say the closest thing is maybe concert tickets, since I have a habit of just going ot every show that comes to my city. "Lynyrd Skynyrd? I don't really like him but when will I ever get to see him again!"

I'm usually pretty tight with my money.

cept when it comes to booze, but that's all calculated.

[Frozen Glacier]

I impulse buy anything at the grocery store that's "buy one incredibly expensive brisket or ham for $60, get six shitty items free!". I do it all the time, I really don't know if I'm getting a good deal...