Your five buying faults, and how to find them

People do not make random buying mistakes. They make the same mistake repeatedly, in different categories, over many years, and they are usually the last to see it. The diagnostic takes ten minutes and produces a result that is uncomfortable and immediately useful.

The exercise

Write down five things you own that cost more than 200 and that you have not used in the last twelve months. Not things you have used once. Things you have not touched. Next to each, write the sentence you said to yourself at the moment of purchase, as honestly as you can recall it.

The pattern will be in the sentences, not in the objects. Almost everybody finds that four of their five belong to a single category, and that the category has been operating since they had money to spend.

The five faults

Aspiration. You bought for the life you intended to have rather than the one you were living. The equipment for the sport you were about to take up, the clothes for a role you were about to be promoted into, the book in a language you were about to learn. The tell is that the purchase came before the behaviour, and the purchase was supposed to cause it.

Duplication. You bought the fourth of something you already had three of, and the reason felt specific at the time: a different shade, a slightly different cut, a marginal improvement. The tell is a wardrobe or a shelf with clusters rather than spread, and a vague sense that you have plenty and nothing.

Occasion. You bought for a single event and told yourself it would be worn or used again. It was not. The tell is that the object is still perfect, because it has been worn once, and that you can name the event.

Upgrade. You replaced a working object with a better one before the first was finished, and the first is still in a cupboard because it is too good to throw away. The tell is drawers of previous versions, and a genuine belief that each upgrade was justified on its own terms.

Permission. You bought something as a reward, at a moment of stress, success or exhaustion, and the buying was the point rather than the object. The tell is that you remember the day clearly and the object vaguely, and that several of them arrived in clusters during difficult months.

Nobody has all five. Almost everybody has one, and it has been running for twenty years.

What to do with the answer

Each fault has a specific countermeasure, and the general advice about spending less applies to none of them.

• Aspiration: do the behaviour four times with borrowed or cheap equipment before buying any. The four sessions cost nothing and they answer the question completely.
• Duplication: photograph the category before buying anything in it. Looking at eleven navy jumpers in one image is more persuasive than any argument.
• Occasion: rent. The infrastructure for this now exists in every category and the arithmetic is overwhelming for anything worn under four times.
• Upgrade: sell or give away the previous one first, on the same day. If you cannot bring yourself to, the upgrade was not needed.
• Permission: separate the reward from the object. The impulse is real and deserves satisfying, and it can be satisfied by something that is consumed rather than stored.

Why this is worth more than any discount

A person with an aspiration fault loses a substantial sum every few years to equipment for lives they did not lead. A person with a duplication fault owns a wardrobe twice the size of the one they wear. Neither is solved by buying more carefully in general, because the fault is specific and it operates below the level where general care is applied.

Name it once and it becomes visible in the shop, which is the only place the correction can happen.

Spotted an error? Tell the desk