No matter how much you’re trying to save money by cutting back on purchases, most people will give in to the impulse buy now and again. You know, that thing you didn’t know you wanted or needed until you saw it on the store shelf. Well, it turns out all those impulse buys are costing people A LOT of money.
A new survey finds that Americans spend about $450 a month on impulse buys, which comes out to $5,400 a year and about $324,000 through the course of their life. Overall, 20% of people admit to making purchases impulsively, with the top impulse buys being:
- food and groceries
- clothing
- household items
- takeout
- shoes
So why are so many people shopping impulsively? Well, 64% say they make impulse buys because of a deal that’s offered, while 40% do it because they got a coupon in the mail, 33% are motivated by a coupon via email, and 21% shop impulsively when they are online.
Source: Yahoo Finance