How Social Media Causes Me to Overspend on Amazon Prime -- and How I'm Breaking That Cycle

It's a problem I need to work on for sure.

I know a lot of people who spend tons of time on social media. And for the most part, I try to limit my time doing that -- namely because I have a busy schedule and can't afford to spend hours each week scrolling through people's feeds.

In fact, the main reason I have a social media account is to keep up with happenings at my kids' schools and activities. Some activity groups only post updates on Facebook, for example, so without an account, I'd be in the dark.

But one Facebook group I joined a few years back has recently prompted me to spend way too much money on various things I don't need. And so I've decided it's time to cut ties rather than risk a continuously growing credit card balance.

When there's just too much temptation

Years ago, a friend had me join a Facebook group that pumps out daily deals on a host of products, from clothing to toys to just about everything. A lot of the deals that are advertised in that group are Amazon Prime deals, so it's especially easy for me to take advantage of them. After all, I don't even have to leave my house -- I can just point and click my way to a bargain.

In the beginning, I didn't think much about spending $10 here or $20 there on a whim. I have room in my budget for these types of unplanned purchases, and thankfully, my income is such that I can afford to occasionally spend a small amount of money for things that make me or other people in my family happy.

But recently, I noticed that I'd been jumping on those deals on an almost-daily basis. And so instead of talking about $10 here and $20 there, suddenly, I found myself spending upward of $100 a week on things that caught my eye because I saw them on social media.

Now to be fair, a lot of the impulse purchases I made over the past few weeks are going to be used as holiday gifts. For example, last week, I came across a deal for a really cute journaling kit for my daughters that was marked down from $24.99 to $16.99. So I decided to buy that kit as a holiday gift, and now I won't buy something else.

But all told, I recognize that my spending has gotten to be too much. And so I'm taking steps to make those impulse buys a thing of the past.

When it pays to unsubscribe

While it's been nice getting deal alerts every time I sign into Facebook, I decided to unsubscribe from that group's posts because the temptation has been too overwhelming. I'm really not the sort of person who shops out of boredom, so if those deals aren't right in front of my face, I'm probably not going to find them. And that may end up being a good thing.

This isn't to say that I'll stay unsubscribed from that group forever. But for now, I very much need to curb my spending, so I'll do what it takes to make impulse purchases less likely.