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Do you indulge in splurging or over-spending? Do your parents or your spouse complain that you spend too much? Do you find that you actually charged more than you thought in your credit card bills? Do you find your room cluttered with things you don’t use? Do you sometimes end up buying something even though you only intended to window shop? If you answer yes for any of these questions, you may suffer from one or more of the following splurger-syndrome:

1) “Ooo shiny thing” splurger
This splurger spends on high-tech gadgets and will buy anything new in the market every month.
Symptoms are:
- “This one comes with the newest ______ (fill in the blank) feature which my old one doesn’t”
- “With this, I don’t have to carry so many gadgets because it’s all-in-one” (and he still carries his old gadgets)
- “All my colleagues have this PDA/MP3 Player/phone/etc, I must have it too”

2) “It’s soooo cheap” splurger
It’s easy to get this splurger’s attention with the words “on sale”, they will buy anything even when it’s totally useless because “it’s sooo cheap”.
Symptoms are:
- “I bought another pair of sunglasses (to add to my 23rd collection) because it was on sale”
- “I just had to get it because it’s sooo cheap”
- “I don’t think I’ll ever you use it, but it’s such a bargain, I can make it a gift for friends” (but never does)

3) The depressed splurger
They go on a shopping frenzy to get over their depression only to find out how much they have charged to their credit cards at the end of the month
Symptoms are:
- “I deserve it after a bad day at work”
- “Shopping makes me feel better”

4) The designer splurger
These type of splurger wants everything branded. Some certainly can afford it, some can’t but still only buys designer brands. They are even happier if it comes in instalment payment.
Symptoms are:
- “I bought this Gucci handbag to match my Patek Phillippe”
- “My credit card company offered an easy instalment payment to own a Tag Heuer, I just had to go for it!”

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? It’s an impulsive behaviour that most of us have thanks to the constant attack of the media ads that tell us we are missing something in order for our lives to be better. To overcome impulse, you must learn to differenciate your needs from your wants. To reduce your impulse spending, try some of these methods:

1) When you see things you like, don’t buy them first, write them down then go home. After a few days or weeks, look back at your list. Often times, you will realize that you don’t need any of the items on the list.

2) Pay by cash. When you use credit cards to charge for items, it doesn’t “feel” that you are spending because you just sign and get back your card. However, if you pay by cash, you won’t spend more than what you have, and you may change your mind when reality hits you on the head that you are “really” spending on things that you don’t need.

Learn to control your spending habits by knowing what you need and want and you’ll be far ahead financially.