Half a million Scots have regretted buying something they couldn't afford

New research from Debt Advisory Centre Scotland shows how our minds can deceive us when we're shopping - as the vast majority of Scottish people (82%) have bought something and then regretted it. That's equivalent to 3.5 million people. Of those people, 18% (over 600,000) regretted their purchase because it cost too much. 
 
When it comes to regretting unaffordable purchases, the top culprits for Scots are pets, holidays, gifts, furniture and musical instruments. 'Couldn't afford it' was the reason Scots gave for regretting these purchases in 46%, 39%, 31%, 27% and 27% of cases respectively.
 
The top 10 'most regretted' purchases in Scotland overall were:

Clothes (62%)
Shoes (38%)
Things bought on holiday (25%)
Kitchen gadgets (25%)
Home exercise/gym equipment (21%)
Gadgets - like tablets and smartphones (20%)
Gifts (19%)
Jewellery (14%)
Games (13%)
Electrical items - like TVs (11%)
 
Being unable to afford a purchase (18%) is just one reason for buyer's remorse in Scotland. The most common cause is 'didn't really need it' (29%) - followed by 'didn't wear it/it didn't fit/didn't like it' (20%), 'rarely or never use it' (20%) and 'it's poor quality or broken' (12%).
 
It's interesting to note what Scottish people tend to do after regretting a purchase. A whopping 60% of the time, they simply keep it, 17% give it away to someone else and 14% sell it on. Only a tiny 8% actually return the item to the retailer for a refund. 
 
Ian William of Debt Advisory Centre Scotland said: "Spending money on an item you can't really afford can make you feel better temporarily, but when you get that item home and your wallet is that much lighter, it's easy to start regretting your purchase. Overspending every now and again can be fine, but if you're living beyond your means more often than you can afford to, problems can start to develop. There are a lot of causes of debt: and overspending is unfortunately one of them. If you feel like you're struggling financially - whatever the reason - it's important to get some advice from a debt expert as soon as you can."