Diderot effect, the need to continue buying: how to control it?

It has happened to him that he enrolls in a gym and when he gets dressed he realizes that he does not have adequate footwear, so he goes to a store and buys a new one to go train. However, the purchases do not stop there, as he realizes that he does not have enough clothes to exercise and after this he adds more things such as: a backpack, gloves, grip straps, supplements, among others.

(Read: Colombia is in a legal limbo against the ‘rental of wombs’).

To this form of consumption known as the Diderot effect. which is obtained when you purchase an item and, after your purchase, generates the need to obtain others that go in the same line.

Denis Diderot was a prestigious 18th century French encyclopedist and writer, he was the first to describe this spending spiral in an account entitled “Sorry about my old robe. Notice to those who have more pleasure than fortune”.

There he said that they had given him a new robe, which was good and elegant. However, it made her other belongings look shoddy. To make up for this, Diderot began by changing his chair for an armchair, then he bought a new table, paintings and other things. In the end she ended up redecorating her house to fit her new robe.

These types of consumer spirals are very common today and stores take advantage of it in different ways. The most common is to do it with cross sales, for example There are shops that make combos with their products such as: a laptop and immediately add a protector and a mouse.

Most of the time people are not aware of this effect and that is why falling into it is easy, however, there are some mechanisms so that you can reduce these compulsive purchases.

(In addition: Expenses that are weighing the most on the cost of living of Colombians).

One way to stop this effect is to assess to what extent you are dominated and conditioned by your belongings. Do they dictate what you are? Who are you without them? Once this has been analyzed, we will give you some tips to reduce consumer cravings, according to the media ‘Dear money’.

1. Ask yourself if you really need that object or if you already have it, then you can leave it in its place and give yourself a few days to think. If after 10 days you still want it, you can buy it.

2. If you’ve already done step one and couldn’t help yourself, you need to anticipate these behaviors and limit access to your savings or cards. Also, you can ask someone to go shopping with you and tell you if you are being reasonable or not.

3. To stop these compulsive purchases, it helps to make a monthly spending budget or put a limit on your credit card.

(See: The most expensive cities in Colombia: the money you need to live).

4. If you have a problem with uncontrollable spending, one option is to set deadlines when you can’t shop and when you can. This will make you think twice about the real need to make a purchase and avoid doing it on impulse.

BRIEFCASE