Ever booked a trip in a flush of excitement and immediately bought a whole new wardrobe, airport lounge passes and €200 of "travel essentials" you never used? That's emotional spending, and travel is one of its biggest triggers.
Researchers like Kathleen Vohs, a marketing professor at the University of Minnesota who studies the psychology of money, now describe emotional spending as buying things to change or maintain a mood – often without consciously realising it. It's not just sadness-driven retail therapy. Boredom and loneliness are the emotions financial therapists say trip people up most (all that couch scrolling that ends in a checkout), and excitement is just as guilty: when you're in a good mood, you're less inclined to exercise self-control, and the little buzz of buying something prolongs the feelgood state. Hence the pre-holiday splurge, the celebration dinner that snowballs, the "we're only here once" upgrade.
So when does it become a problem? Experts quoted by NZ Herald Travel point to three warning signs: you feel regular shame or regret when you look at your statements; you're consistently spending in ways that derail goals you actually care about (like the trip itself); and shopping is your first instinct whenever you feel low, bored or lonely.
The fixes are refreshingly practical. Financial therapists suggest tracking every purchase for a week or two in a phone note, jotting down how you felt before and after – you'll quickly spot whether a buy actually lifted your mood or just gave a brief spike. Before any purchase, pause and name what you're feeling; if you're bored or lonely, address that directly (call a friend, take a walk) before you reach for your wallet. One therapist recommends building a "dopamine menu": a written list of free or cheap mood-boosters – a comfort show, a hike, cooking a favourite meal – so you have options when the urge hits.
Friction helps too. Delete saved card details from travel sites, unsubscribe from airline sale emails, mute the influencers making you want a beach holiday in Fiji, and check your bank balance before you shop so the stakes feel real. One financial therapist swears by a 48-hour rule: anything over $50 sits in the cart for two days before purchase.
For travellers, the stakes are higher than most purchases – a holiday budget can take a year to save and weeks to plan, and emotional impulse spending both before and during a trip quietly eats into it. The good news: none of this means you can't buy the candle or the cocktail. It just means choosing it deliberately rather than on autopilot, so your money goes towards the experiences you actually wanted.