Black Friday: How to Resist Temptations and Avoid Overspending

Every year on Black Friday, stores lure customers with large discounts. However, most of the purchased items turn out to be unnecessary and become extra expenses. We asked a psychologist how to recognize seller manipulations and protect yourself from impulse buying.

Expert - Andrey Nazarov, Psychologist

Not every purchase on Black Friday turns out to be justified. Behind bright advertising slogans and huge discounts lie artificially created stimuli aimed at evoking strong emotions: the fear of missing out on a deal, the desire to conform to others, and the craving for a quick dopamine rush. To avoid becoming a victim of these tactics, it is worth understanding the mechanisms of advertising influence and mastering simple self-control methods.

Before we begin, let’s clarify what a need is and how to distinguish it from the desire to buy something unnecessary. A need is a necessity that cannot be avoided. For example, winter arrives, it’s minus 20 degrees outside, and moths are eating the last down jacket in your closet. The rest of your wardrobe consists of clothing for other seasons. The question is: is buying winter clothing a “need”? I think the answer is obvious.

But it’s different when you simply walk past a store and notice a discount on an item you hadn’t even considered before. Your inner voice suggests: “Wow, what a deal!”, “This opportunity won’t come again! I need to grab it!”, “It will come in handy later” and so on. But upon deeper reflection, you realize that you bought the item not because it was necessary, but under the influence of the moment. This is when the problem of “impulse buying” arises.

Impulse purchases occur due to the influence of certain factors:

Fear of missing out on a deal. It seems that such an opportunity won’t be available tomorrow.
The psychological effect of the crowd (“herd effect”). Everyone is buying, so you need it too.
Instant gratification (dopamine). A purchase brings immediate happiness, but it is short-lived and costly to your wallet.

To avoid unplanned expenses, try the following:

Use mindfulness techniques. Set a rule for yourself: if you urgently want to buy something, postpone the decision for half an hour. Close the link to the website or step out of the store for a while. Often, this simple action allows you to cool off and avoid an impulsive expenditure.
Remember that discounts are a marketing trick. Stores profit from your desire to save money.

Let’s consider two different situations:

You have long dreamed of a mink coat, saved a certain amount, but the price scared you. During Black Friday, there’s a 30% discount, and you go to buy what you’ve long desired at a “tasty” price.

Or another example: you enter an appliance store, strolling through the mall, see a red price tag with a crazy 70% discount and immediately grab it, even though you hadn’t thought about needing it before.

So, did you save money? No, you spent several hundred euros on a device that is unlikely to be used actively. Such purchases easily lead to wasted finances and the accumulation of useless items in the home.

If you learn to plan your budget and approach what you need wisely, you will stop spending money on the “bait” from marketers.

Why Do We Buy More Than We Plan?

Even a simple grocery shopping trip without a prepared list often ends with a full cart of items, most of which were purchased by chance. In contrast, creating a clear list of necessary products allows you to save money and avoid unnecessary expenses.

This is related to the peculiarities of human decision-making perception. Our brains tend to respond to two main motivations: “avoiding pain” and “seeking pleasure.” Evolutionary mechanisms have led to the fact that the fear of pain is much stronger than the desire to enjoy pleasant sensations. For example, losing 20 euros will hurt more than the joy of finding them on the street.

However, this psychological phenomenon is actively used by marketers. One of the most common consumer manipulation tactics is discounts.

The Mechanism of Discounts: How They Make Us Buy More?

Discounts affect several aspects of consumer psychology:

“Herd” syndrome: If everyone is buying, then we must too.
Illusion of scarcity: Phrases like “only 2 left!” create anxiety about missing out on a deal and shut down critical thinking.
Psychology of numbers: A product priced at 9.79 euros is perceived as significantly lower than the psychological threshold of 10 euros.
Advertising also plays a key role in shaping our desires. Through television, magazines, and newspapers, the idea is constantly imposed that buying certain products will make us successful, attractive, and happy (“to be cool, you must have an iPhone, drive a Mercedes, and use Dior Sauvage perfume”).
When buying something new, you will experience a short-term dopamine rush. Your brain will inherently link this action to pleasure. And every time you feel sad/bored/upset/after a breakup, you will rush to the store for a new pair of shoes on sale. However, soon the pleasure fades, leaving only a sense of dissatisfaction and regret over the money spent.

Consequences of Emotional Purchases

Impulse purchases lead to a number of negative consequences:

A constant decrease in income levels.
The emergence of debts and loans.
Feelings of guilt and disappointment.

Shopping euphoria quickly turns into the realization of the futility of spending money. After each impulse purchase, a cycle of depression and the subsequent desire to buy something new arises, creating a vicious circle of dependency.

First, separate your identity from your actions: don’t say “I’m bad for spending so much money,” but rather “I made an impulse purchase.” Next, learn from it: why did you do it? What motivated you? And, if possible, return the item and get your money back.

To counteract the influence of advertising and marketing, it is important to follow simple recommendations:

Make shopping lists in advance.
Ask yourself: “Do I really need this?”
Set a fixed budget for each category of expenses.

In conclusion, I will say: “It’s better to fix the ship than to chase rats.” Instead of futile attempts to boost your self-esteem and self-worth through unnecessary purchases, invest that money in yourself, in areas that are truly needed and important to you. And remember — within you lies everything you truly need.