I’ve Paid For This Twice Already…

Diary of a (somewhat reformed) impulse shopper

I have a weakness, and I am well aware of it. I am impulsive. When I decide to do something, I often just… do it. I decided on my first date with my husband he was the one. I impulsively started a blog. I impulsively chose a graduate school. I am impulsive about every aspect of my life, finances included. Which means, of course, I am an impulsive shopper.

Over the course of the past few months, I have really tried to examine not just why I am impulsive (still working on that one) but also, what I can do about it. What checks and balances can I put into place so that my impulses are in check or at least, I give a little more consideration to things before making a decision. I have worked at this from both ends – keeping myself from following through with the impulse (plan plan plan… planning is your friend), but also when I do buy something impulsively, what can I do so that it doesn’t happen again. This is a story about the latter.

I am, as are many people, a Harry Potter fan. I am also on a very tight budget and working hard to get out of debt, so when the final installment of Harry Potter was about to be released, I knew I needed a plan to be able to get it without spending too much money. And I actually had a plan. I have a merchandise return gift card from Barnes and Noble from a Christmas gift we had double of and returned. It wasn’t quite enough to cover the whole cost of the book but it would result in me only spending about $3 out of pocket. I knew I was not going to be able to resist the book day after day if I didn’t purchase it, so I thought this was a great idea. I was going to a taekwondo tournament morning after it was released, so I planned to go to Barnes and Noble that night at midnight, purchase the book, and then bring it with me to read in the car the next morning.

Well, as you might imagine, many many other people had the same “buy the book at midnight at Barnes and Noble” plan. When I got there I saw that there was no way I would be leaving with a book for several hours. And I had to be ready to go to a tournament in 6 hours, so I couldn’t just wait. So I left, sad that my plan was ruined.

And walked across the street to Walmart and bought the book with my debit card.

When I came home, I sat down at my computer with the receipt for the book in my hand. I first entered it under the “miscellaneous” category in my budget and watched that total turn red, since I had overspent what I planned. I hate when anything in my budget is red. I then logged into my credit card’s website and made an online payment of $18.85 (what I paid for the book). I bought the book with cash (my debit card) but my “rule” is, when I spend money frivolously, I pay for it twice. Once the actual payment and once a payment of equal amount to my debt. For if I can afford to spend money frivolously, I should be able to afford to pay down my debt equally.

So I in essence paid twice for the book. And little by little, that paying twice makes an impression on my psyche, and I spend without carefully considering and showing constraint less and less. For, I could have waited until after my tournament for the book. I could have read something else in the car. But I couldn’t make myself wait, so I suffered the consequences. And the silver lining is, my impulsive nature does work a little bit for me now. All the little “extra” payments help me get out of debt just that much faster.

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