What Makes Us Lose Our Reason When Buying?
Shopping can be a beautiful experience or the expression of a disorder that is difficult to overcome. The compulsiveness in the face of sales days or the fact of not being able to stop even when the money is short, is really a problem related to the mind but part of society itself.
When we think of a compulsive shopper we imagine a woman full of bags fresh from the mall. However, it also affects men and boys.
Impulse buying: that need to spend
Perhaps you have done the exercise of writing down on a piece of paper everything you needed for dinner that day: milk, eggs, flour, bread and tomatoes. But when you got home after shopping, you realized that in the bags you also have a chocolate, a kilo of apples, a jar of mustard and some French fries. At what point did you decide to buy those products?
The truth is that purchases made without thinking can undermine your diet, your economy and your self-esteem. First of all, the foods we buy impulsively are often the worst for our bodies. On the other hand, if you have debts or do not make ends meet and yet “indulge yourself” with a pair of shoes or a jacket, it will be difficult for you to pay the bills or save. So on.
Behind this supposed harmless habit hides a big problem: your spending is guided by impulses and not by reasonable decisions, it is guided by the beautiful chocolate wrapper and not by a scale of needs.
If that doesn’t seem like enough, reflect on how bad you feel when you realize that you have behaved as a consumer in this way.
Impulse buying: personal or social problem?
If you pay attention to the arrangement of the windows, you will realize that sweets and chocolates are in the box line and that healthier products, such as fruits and vegetables, are much further apart. On the other hand, it is not by chance that, being able to modernize the payment system, there are still long queues around the cashiers. During the time we wait, we have sweets in front of us saying: “Buy me, I’m very good!” and that we buy them from the stores they love.
If we add to that the publicity that encourages us to buy anything to belong to a group or to be “accepted” socially, everything gets worse. The emotions we experience when we see a product are calculated in advance. Yes, because the creatives of companies have worked hard so that when you see a package or a sign on the public highway, you automatically want to have or consume.
According to some studies, people do not have the ability to control our gaze and if we see something for a certain time it is very likely that we want it. It happens with food, clothes and even a partner.
The selection of our purchases is usually automatic and made without full awareness. In many cases, even products totally opposed to our tastes or habits are purchased.
Identify shopping addiction
It is a bit difficult to accept that we are “compulsive buyers” since we will always have an excuse for one or the other product. The typical “I needed it” or “it was on sale” are widely listened to by family and friends.
In order to realize (with total objectivity and one hand on your heart) that you are an uncontrolled buyer, think about whether in at least one opportunity you have put your family at risk, you did not mind sacrificing basic needs or if when you get home you You felt sorry for transporting several bags.
Among the techniques that can be used to reduce and even eliminate this tendency to compulsive consumption to buy, experts recommend making a shopping list for the market and sticking to it 100%. Go out with little money and without credit cards and share the problem with loved ones, who will be able to collaborate in what is within their reach.
It is also necessary to analyze through psychological consultation what are the reasons why it is necessary to buy to feel complete or satisfied. The attraction to consumer stimuli or living in a city full of billboards are not necessarily the reasons that can lead to act in this way.
