BOSTON, Mass. — There’s a new term to describe spending money to save money.
It’s called “spaving” and it can cause us to go way over our budget during the holidays.
Jason Law with our news partners at WFXT shared four steps you can take to avoid “spaving.”
This time of year we are bombarded by endless sales and limited-time deals and it can force us to spend impulsively because we think it’s saving us money.
“A lot of us are conditioned to hunt for deals and we can’t resist a sale but if you’re spending money just to save money, it’s never a good thing,” Andrea Woroch said.
Woroch is a consumer advisor and has four steps to avoid “spaving” this holiday season.
>> Feeling stressed during the holiday season? Here’s what you can do to cope
First, dodge sale alerts.
Unsubscribe from emails, opt out of text alerts and turn off push notifications from your favorite stores.
Those stores are looking to entice you with the next big sale.
“This can cause you to buy things you don’t need and causes a sense of urgency leading to overspending,” Woroch said.
Number two, Woroch said stay out of stores.
If there are certain stores you “spave” at more frequently than others, avoid walking in to break your bad spending habits.
“Regardless of what store it is, figure out which stores are causing you to ‘spave’ and just kill the temptation immediately by not even walking through the door,” Woroch said.
Third, pay with cash.
Woroch said this is the ultimate way to avoid “spaving.”
If you’re using cash Woroch said you’re less likely to buy things you don’t need.
“There are countless studies that have been done that found people when they pay with cash spend less overall and are less likely to buy things they don’t need,” she said.
>> Over 115 million Americans expected to travel for year-end holidays, AAA says
Lastly, create purchase hurdles.
By simply deleting payment details stored in an online retail account, you create a purchase hurdle that forces you to slow down and think.
“Sleep on it. Give yourself at least 24 hours to think about the purchase. Chances are the urge to buy will have passed and you will have saved yourself some good money,” Woroch said.
If you need help eliminating all those sales emails and ads, Woroch recommends using “unroll.me”
It’s a free site that helps you unsubscribe from all those mailing lists.
©2023 Cox Media Group
