more stuff then we actually need

Introduction

Life is about choices, and we've all got to make them. There's a lot of pressure on us to buy things we don't need, but with the right information, you can learn how to better manage your finances and ultimately save money. In this article I'll cover some common ways that marketers use psychology to get us to spend more then we intended.

How we shop

As a society, we are conditioned to shop. We’re taught from a young age that the answer to our problems is simply more stuff—and that shopping is good.

This conditioning starts with advertisements on TV and in magazines; as children, we see ads for toys and clothes and electronics every day. As we grow older, advertising becomes more sophisticated: it appeals to our emotions and makes us think about ourselves as consumers rather than individuals in possession of needs or wants.[1]

Advertisers know that people associate happiness with buying things they don't need (this is called the "hedonic treadmill" effect). They also know that people believe they can achieve happiness through consumerism—so they work hard to create a sense of dissatisfaction with your current situation so you'll buy something new.[2]

The more choices the more likely we are to buy something

The more choices, the more likely we’re going to buy something. It seems like a no-brainer, but think about it: If you have only two choices on the menu and you choose one, there’s no doubt in your mind as to what you want or whether or not it was worth your money. But when given five different types of pizza for dinner or a hundred different things for sale at a store that all look amazing… well let’s just say our brains get really confused!

It makes sense that this happens because having so many options makes us feel overwhelmed while also making us feel less certain about which one is best for us (and therefore less confident in our decision). When this happens, we tend to seek out opinions from others who are willing to help us make up our minds—which means salespeople have an advantage over their competitors since they can offer advice about their products or services rather than just selling them off the shelf!

Why do some people believe they are so much better then others?

They think they are entitled to more. They think the world owes them something.

Well let me tell you something, the world doesn't owe you anything!

Pricing trickery can make you spend more then you intended.

It's a psychological thing. We've all been duped before, and it's not fun. Here are some tricks you can use to get what you really want:

If something is priced to end in 9 (e.g., $19.99), chances are it's more expensive than an item that ends with .99 ($9.99). Don't let stores trick you into paying more than you need to!
The more of something you buy at once, the cheaper each individual unit will be per pound or ounce or whatever unit they're using at that store in particular. So if they're selling something by the piece and say: "each piece costs $1 but we'll give 10% off if you purchase 5 pieces," definitely buy 5 of those pieces because each one will cost only like 90 cents then! Right? Right???

Shopping makes us feel good, or maybe not.

The psychological reasons for shopping are varied and complicated, but we’re going to focus on four of the most common. First up is escapism. Shopping can feel like a time-out from our daily lives, with all its demands and pressures. It can be an opportunity to enter a fantasy world where we have unlimited resources in order to buy anything we want or need. In the real world, though, money is finite and there are limits on what we can buy—but those limitations don’t apply in this make-believe space! Shopping as escapism allows us to turn off our critical thinking skills (or at least put them on pause), which may help us escape momentarily from some aspect of our lives that feels painful or difficult.

Second is self-medication: using shopping as a way of coping with negative feelings such as anxiety and depression by buying things that will make us feel better (at least temporarily). Some people find that spending money on themselves helps lift their moods; others might choose alcohol or drugs instead of retail therapy because they don't think it's acceptable behavior among friends or coworkers who might disapprove if they knew you were using substances recreationally outside work hours

We buy things we really don't need because they are on sale.

We can be tricked into thinking that we are getting a better deal then we actually are.

In the olden days, when something was on sale, it meant that there was a limited number of this item in the store. The expectation was that you would buy only what you needed, because if you didn’t your chances of finding more at another store would be low. Nowadays it is common to have sales every week or month and items seem like they are always on sale – even though most of the time they aren’t! This leads us to buy more than we need just because it is on special offer.

Are you a victim of the "scarcity principle"?

The scarcity principle is a marketing strategy that uses the fear of loss or missing out to encourage you to make a purchase. It's pretty common, and can be found everywhere from grocery stores to online shopping sites like Amazon.

One way marketers use it is by offering something for free—but only for a limited time. This creates an "if you don't act now, you will lose the opportunity" feeling in consumers' minds, which makes them more likely to sign up for offers or buy products immediately before they disappear forever!

An example would be when I was thinking about buying a new blender years ago: I went online and found one that had great reviews at my desired price point (a steal!), but there was just one problem—the supplier was running an end-of-season sale where all blenders were offered at half price as long as they were purchased within two weeks' time. If I waited longer than that before purchasing mine, then I'd miss out on saving myself some serious cash!

Through clever marketing techniques and advertising, companies create a "need" for a product or service, even though humans may have gotten along just fine without it before.

Have you ever wondered why you feel like you need to buy something? Do you really need that new pair of shoes, or do they just look nice? Are your clothes not dirty yet, so why do you have to wash them? The answer is simple: clever marketing and advertising have made these products appear as necessities in our lives. It's hard to think about these things sometimes, but it's important if we want to be aware of what we're doing with our money.

This article will give an overview of how companies create a need for their products, as well as some tips on how consumers can avoid falling into their traps.

Using the law of reciprocity to get us to spend money on things we don't really need.

The law of reciprocity is a social norm that dictates that we feel obligated to repay someone for a favor or gift. This means that when you receive something from someone, you feel like you need to give something back. For example, if someone gives you a gift of their own free will and without asking for anything in return, then it is important for you as the receiver of this gift to repay them with another one.

In addition to this concept being true at face value, there are also many psychological factors that make us more likely to buy things because they are on sale. We have been brought up believing that “a penny saved is a penny earned” or “saving money never hurt anyone” so when we see an item marked down significantly from its original price tag (i.e., 75% off), our brain tells us: “Wow! I can save $50 on this item I don't really need!"

Understanding how and why we purchase things will help us to rein in our urge to buy and save money

Understanding the psychology of marketing is an important part of curbing spending. When you understand why you buy things, you can make your purchases with more awareness and less impulse. By understanding how and why we purchase things, we can rein in our urge to buy and save money.

For example, my wife has a lifelong passion for shoes. She has hundreds of pairs at any given time—all organized neatly by color and style on shelves built into our closet walls—and she wears at least one pair every day. I have never seen her wear the same pair twice in one week because she likes variety in her wardrobe choices (and who wouldn't?). But here's what I've noticed: If she hasn't worn a particular pair recently, they tend not to get worn again until they go out of season or get so dirty that they need to be replaced. Why? Because if there are no other options available right now but those very same shoes (or boots), then there's no reason not to wear them again until something better comes along!

So how can this information help us curb our spending? Well...

Conclusion

We all like to think that we're smart enough to avoid being manipulated by clever marketing, but unfortunately it's not always that simple. Whether you're a savvy shopper or someone who struggles with impulse spending and bad credit card habits, hopefully this information will help you make better decisions when shopping so you don't end up wasting money on things you don't really need.