Impulse spending has created a lot of financial disasters. Try to assess yourself and find out whether you are an impulse spender or not. Have you ever heard your spouse or partner complaining that you spend too much money? Are you always surprised every time you receive your credit card bill? When you open your closet, do you have a lot of shoes and clothes that you rarely use? Do you own the latest mobile phone as well as other fancy gadgets? Do you buy tend to buy items that you saw on a display even if you never knew them before?

Review the questions above and be truthful to yourself. If you say "yes" to two questions, then it can be said that you are an impulse spender. Impulse spending can be really dangerous for your financial situation. It makes you cannot save enough money for important things like a house, a car, investments, and your retirement account. This habit will surely ruin your financial goals. Furthermore, impulse spending can also put unwanted strains on your relationship.

Therefore, it is important to start taking action to control your spending habit. You need to be able to differentiate things that you need and things that you want. If you are watching TV, you will see advertisements. You see ads on the newspapers, on the street, and in the Internet. Basically ads are everywhere and they persuade you to spend money 24 hours a day. Therefore, it is not surprising that many people fall into their traps and buy something that they don't really need.

There is a simple trick that you can try to protect yourself from impulse spending. When you plan to go shopping, firstly you should make a list containing items that you need. Bring enough cash only to pay for things that you plan to buy. If necessary, you should leave your credit cards at home. Credit cards are number one cause of impulse spending and leaving them at home is the wisest move that you should do.

You should also give yourself a cooling-off period before you buy anything. If you see something that you really want to buy, give yourself one week to consider. Think whether the item is really useful or actually you are doing OK without it. This simple solution will work wonders to improve your financial situation and even mend your troublesome relationship.