Why do Americans spend so much?

Do you ever wonder why we spend so much money every day? We Americans tend to spend a lot of money on random things because we like to feel included.  There have been some studies on different topics about the one question. What influences people to spend so much money-and on what?  Most Americans spend their money because of different reasons, some are more difficult to overcome but with time they could be overcome.

Why do Americans spend so much money on a daily basis? Like I said before we spend money out of instinct we do it without thinking if we truly need it or if we just want it. There are multiple reasons why we do these kinds of things. Shopping addiction is one of the most common reasons why. “Shopping addiction is characterized as an impulse-control disorder. About 6 percent of the population could be considered compulsive buyers. There are excessive shoppers, and there are compulsive shoppers. They buy things they do not need and often cannot afford, and place their work, their families, and their mental health in jeopardy. Some of those people who end up in bankruptcy are binge buyers, suffering from a disease similar to alcoholism. Experts suggest starting a journal to keep track of your triggers.” meaning people can be addicted to shopping as a way of stress relief or a distraction it gets the person's mind off of what they’re worried about. This is not the only reason why there are so many reasons. Another common reason is therapy. Yes, people do use shopping as therapy when they're stressed or when they need to get their mind off of something because of the negative feeling that causes them a behavior change, and when they need an immediate improvement in their mood they use shopping. And when they are feeling down, they tend to impetuously spend money. Shopping just allows people to visualize themselves in a “better” life, where they’re dressed in nice clothes or surrounded by nice things. Buying makes these visualizations a reality. We tend to spend a lot of money on things we don't need or maybe there's an occasion it just depends on the person.  For example, special occasions like birthdays or holidays also lead to us overspending because we don't keep track of how many of them we have. Leading to us spending over our normal budget. We like to give special people special gifts and we don't care about the price so we tend to just spend money. I always wonder why don't we just try to save money but that's hard for some people because we like to buy things we like to spend even if we try to take control of how much we do spend but there is no way of stopping. “Americans are notorious spenders. Compared to many other nations around the world, households in the U.S. have a particularly low savings rate, and 28 percent of American adults have no emergency fund.”

What actually impacts us to spend so much? There are many things we are surrounded by that impact us starting off with ads most people buy things because of the ads they see on social media or on t.v because they are flashy or persuasive, which adds a lot to the reason why social media makes things harder and make people want to buy almost everything they see. Meaning that ads make a lot of change in a person’s purchases. Social media has one of the biggest impacts on why we spend so much. “And, along with the “fear of missing out” on a new item, trend, or experience, advertising does of course play its part in tempting you to splurge. Last year, Facebook brought in $39.9 billion of revenue from ads alone. Instagram recently rolled out Instagram Shopping, which allows people to view product descriptions and pricing. And other social media platforms facilitate monetary transactions directly from the website or app.” This just shows how ads mixed in with social media which is what most everyone is on these days make an impact because it makes you want what others have because it's cool or you just want it. 

Even if social media has an impact there are ways to overcome the urge one of the methods is doing is it a need or a want? If it's a want then you can wait a while and revisit and see if you truly want it instead of buying it on impulse. Another method is creating a budget and sticking to it. If you’re considering spending outside of that budget or prioritizing something material over a bill coming due, it means you need to cut back in some way. There are also many ways of being responsible. For example, avoid wasting by avoiding waste. You are making sure you truly are going to put the object in use or is it just going to be laying around being in the way. Buying less can also help you to use the method. Is it a need or a want and it could help by cutting some slack meaning you waste less money and you save as well? The last method that can also help is quality over quantity meaning instead of buying everything you see and especially if it's cheap try to get things that are worth your money and that won't be thrown away quickly because of the poor quality. 

In conclusion, most Americans spend their money on random things and trends, others try their best to get over it or try to spend less by using methods but they're already used to having their shopping addictions. There are reasons why Americans or even just people spend so much money. There are methods to overcome the addiction and ways that certain things impact the addiction or make it worse. I think it would help if people would try to overcome their addiction or social media to lack the number of ads they have so people can start to save for the future or if there is an emergency they can at least have a bit of money.