Black Friday Shopping: 8 Tips To Curb Overspending

Do you get a rush when you purchase something? When you swipe your credit card, use the stylus to hit "yes" on the machine, and then take your just-bought treasures in a glossy paper bag from the store clerk?

Scientifically, it's no surprise that we get this rush -- just like with any other pleasurable activity, shopping can spur the release of feel-good hormones in our brains, said Dr. James A. Roberts, Ph.D., a marketing professor and consumer culture expert at Baylor University and author of "Shiny Objects: Why We Spend Money We Don't Have in Search of Happiness We Can't Buy" (HarperOne, 2011).

"We used to think that [addiction comes] only [from] chemicals," Roberts told HuffPost. "We thought it had to be nicotine, alcohol, but we're finding that anything that produces pleasure in your brain has the potential to be addictive."

And for Black Friday in particular, our "getting while the getting is good" mentalities are activated, said Dr. April Lane Benson, Ph.D., a psychologist, expert in treating compulsive buying disorder, and author of "To Buy or Not to Buy: Why We Overshop" (Trumpeter, 2008).

"Whether we need something or not, the thrill of the hunt, the excitement of getting the best deal, the idea that someone else may be getting it and then we'll lose out are all operative here," Benson told HuffPost. "We also like the idea that we've got our shopping done early ... but in so many cases, the Black Friday shopping just releases the logjam and gives us license to keep on spending until the doors finally close on Christmas Eve."

Losing self-control when it comes to shopping can lead to debt and other financial ruin. Whether you are a full-blown shopping addict or you just have a hard time resisting a good deal, here are some tips for keeping your overspending and overbuying in check this Black Friday, the holiest of shopping holidays.

Comments

[Marturia]

10:24 PM on 11/26/2011

Maybe it's an insult to my gender, but I am a woman who doesn't like shopping. Black Friday, Cyber Monday, special sales do not excite me. I'm hopeless!

[MatoMan88]

01:09 PM on 11/26/2011

I like that you guys are good at managing your attitude to the shopping. However, I was not so fortunate. I am addicted to shopping and after my last year experience I told myself I will not go out on Black Friday and Cyber Monday because I will end with no money and lot of things I do not need. But then I discovered website http://mycybermondaydeals.org and my hopes of saving money and not going out to shop on black friday were ruined because thanks to that website I now can get those deals from my home. Yesterday I managed to control myself but I am affraid that I will spent more money on the Cyber Monday deals.

Can anyone help me how could I fight this "hunger" for buying things which is still inside of me?

Thanks,

MatoMan88

[Tom Joad]

10:27 AM on 11/26/2011

...I made a gift yesterday with my own creativity...that was fun...

[BMcCue7]

01:15 PM on 11/27/2011

Good idea!

[Mouse718]

10:26 AM on 11/26/2011

I spend $0, because I dropped out of the whole xmas thing years ago. I don't "need" anything and neither does anybody else in my family, so the whole game of trying to find out what somebody wants and buy them something even semi-useful was just a complete farce. If your family is rich enough that they just got back from their 4th vacation this year, is it really that taboo to suggest doing away with gift-giving all together? I recommend that families with money just skip the gift-giving, and make xmas a day with family and food, no need to buy them junk they don't need that will only end up sitting in a closet. Especially if there are no children under 16 in the family!

[KatK]

03:12 PM on 11/26/2011

Exactly right! We do the same thing. No one takes four vacations, but we do have enough food, dishes and clothing. We don't need junk.

Ever notice how around Christmas time stores carry items they NEVER carry during the year such as electric wine bottle openers and giant jewelery pins. This is so people can give as a gift something no one would otherwise buy. It hurts our savings, hurts our trade deficit (since all that junk is made in China) and hurts the environment. Does it bring us closer together? Of course not. We'd be better off spending that shopping time just hanging out with each other.

[Marturia]

10:32 PM on 11/26/2011

Amen. The most important thing to me around the holidays (and any other time for that matter) is to enjoy time with my family and friends. Instead of thinking of the holidays as an excuse for spending, we think about it as an opportunity for gathering with our loved ones. It sounds sappy, but it is true.

[Mouse718]

09:40 AM on 11/27/2011

Exactly. And it's all useless junk that will end up cluttering your shelves and closets, only to get thrown out next time your move and need to clean out. So why bother buying it anyway? Just because all the commercials and the rest of society says that it's 12/24 and 12/25, so you have to buy an item, wrap it and hand it to a family member or you're a bad person who doesn't love them? The peer pressure behind the whole holiday gift-giving is just silly when you break it down, so the key is having the courage to be a free thinker and go against the crowd, saying you won't participate in the consumer frenzy.

[colin72]

08:13 AM on 11/26/2011

"The Science Behind Why We Love Shopping"

Person with poor self-image and low self-esteem +
Material goods =
Person with temporarily higher poor self-image and low self-esteem

[mlaiuppa]

03:37 PM on 11/25/2011

I haven't shopped on a black Friday in well over a decades. In fact, since at least the 90s I have avoided entering any shopping mall or store (other than a grocery or drug store) from the day before Thanksgiving until a few days after New Years. I can't stand the (lack of) parking, I can't stand the crowds, I can't stand the noise and the excess of cheap cr@p nauseates me.

I choose each gift I give according to the recipient. I do so throughout the year. If I see something that is perfect for someone, I buy it then. I don't wait until the season arrives. I do the same for birthdays. I hold the gift in my closet until it is time to give it. I stay within budget unless I've saved on other gifts and have a "credit" in my budget to go a little over on someone else.

I listen. I listen to my family members throughout the year so I know them. I know their tastes, their wants and their needs. That is what I draw from to choose the right gift. You can't do that in the midst of Black Friday frenzy.

[bahkey]

02:20 PM on 11/25/2011

Stay home and watch football. Then wish your friends on Huffpost, Merry Christmas.

[singermuse]

02:03 PM on 11/25/2011

You only need ONE tip: Celebrate BUY NOTHING DAY...free yourself from corporate manipulation, and addiction to consumerism.

[nsewing]

01:54 PM on 11/25/2011

Here is the perfect song for today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhpmYlTbCBw&feature=feedlik

[BMcCue7]

01:18 PM on 11/27/2011

Good creative songwriting.

When I visited, there were only 74 views, though. I hope she gets more.

[nsewing]

03:45 PM on 11/27/2011

She is a friend of a friend. I first saw this on FB. Hopefully, after posting here, it will get more views.

[GiddyUpBoy]

01:49 PM on 11/25/2011

Stay home. relax on the couch. go to Huffpo and laugh at the idiots shopping.

[Tom Joad]

10:25 AM on 11/26/2011

...that's exactly what I did!...

[Jim8]

01:02 PM on 11/25/2011

Walking around a crowded mall with a pocket full of cash is a good idea?

[Jim8]

01:01 PM on 11/25/2011

Since the black Friday sales are nothing more than hype, geared to getting people to the malls and buying things they wouldn't normally buy, I'd have to agree with those who say #1 is all you need to know.

Anyone aware that the $199, 42 inch Sharp TV Best Buy had was a specially built model just for Black Friday? Nothing special, just a cheap knockoff hop informed buyer would purchase.

[Marturia]

10:42 PM on 11/26/2011

You're right about the TV's. People need to do their research. Those cheap models are only built to last for less than a year before the power supplies burn out. Another complaint is that the screens come apart from their base. And, of course, this happens right after the warranty runs out. In the industry it's called "controlled obsolescence." I've learned some of this stuff because my husband is a technician who somtimes works on big screen TV's.

[JBS]

12:26 PM on 11/25/2011

Tip number 1 is all you need.

[sfbbmom]

12:26 PM on 11/25/2011

It is amazing how much money you can save if you don't buy anything. It is amazing how much fun it is to make your own holiday cards! Children love projects. Just put paper, glue, glitter, old magazines, etc on the table. Children like quality time with parents rather than going off in the corner to play with a cheap toy. If my son received a toy that was already put together, he took it apart!.

[Mochilero]

12:14 PM on 11/25/2011

Most people have garages full of items they rarely if ever use. And the US has thousands of thrift stores full of discards. You won't find any of them in Mexico, where almost nothing is thrown away, and ragpickers eke out subsistence combing through what is. Shopping is an addiction. The easiest rule: If you don't need it, don't buy it.