A money shrink on how to stop emotionally spending

Here's how to stop spending money when you've had a bad day. Source: Getty

If you go to the supermarket when you’re hungry, the chances of you buying a Snickers bar at the checkout are almost 100 per cent.

That alone shows us that our feelings rule our decisions, psychologist and money shrink, Dr Katherine Hunt, told Yahoo Finance.

And there are a lot of feelings flying around all day everyday, Hunt said, and often we spend money when we feel a certain way.

• Also read: This is the psychology behind bad savings habits

• Also read: A behavioural neuroscientist’s tip to increase productivity

• Also read: How to use LinkedIn to guarantee you get your dream job

“Curbing spending isn’t about curbing spending - it’s about identifying what your individual problems are,” she said.

Taking some simple steps can help you do this, Hunt said.

Write a spending diary

Just like a nutritionist will ask their clients to record a food diary for a few days, Hunt will ask her clients to record expenses in real-time, and how they’re feeling at different points of the day.

“This starts to … [show that] we do make impulsive spending decisions when we’ve had a difficult conversation with our mum, or when we’re hungry, or all throughout the day when we didn’t sleep well the night before,” she said.

And this is true for women and men alike, Hunt said.

“Men are really pushed in difficult financial ways, because society is telling men these ideas like they need to provide for their family, and they need to be the main income-earner and whatnot, which just doesn’t suit our current reality.

“Men have a lot of emotional issues about money as well, and they’re a little bit different to women’s, but they’re still such a burden to carry.”

Do some hard self-reflection

While Hunt says this is a really valuable thing to do on a regular basis anyway, it’s especially true when it comes to identifying why you spend money when you spend it.

“It could mean for some of us, the best outcome is to say, ‘Oh, I can’t have a credit card, or an Eftpos card,’ or, ‘I need to have a cash allowance of $200 per week’,” she said.

“This will help you calculate and figure out what your weekly budget for groceries and whatever else is - and then that might just be physical cash, and when it’s gone it’s gone.”

Make your money work with Yahoo Finance’s daily newsletter. Sign up here and stay on top of the latest money, news and tech news.