4 Emotional Spending Mistakes You Need to Avoid

• 1. The guilty buy: You're vulnerable when you've goofed up. For example, forgetting a friend's birthday could make you rush out to buy a ridiculously expensive gift. A better solution: call or send a card. They'll realise you're thinking of them. It will then be less tempting to plaster over guilt with money!

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• 2. The tired buy: It's difficult to make logical decisions about deals when you're exhausted, so you end up paying over the odds at the first shop. Tip: postpone a purchase, or pay using cash, so you get a real sense of what you're spending. 

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• 3. The improve-a-bad-day purchase: We've all been through phases when the best way to shake off a blue mood seems to be a pair of new earrings. Our tackle-it trick: call a pal who can distract you at a weak moment and save you from spending cash.

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• 4. The habit buy: Every time you pick up coffee from the cafe instead of the canteen where it's cheaper, or buy groceries from the supermarket over your cheap sabziwallah, you know you've made a habit buy. Our advice: list all the extra cash you waste this way every week to get a perspective.