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Mindful spending and avoiding buyer's regret

We've conducted research which shows that each year most UK adults make seven impulsive purchases, costing £150 to £1,500 each. Read more about our research data and findings here. To avoid buyer's regret, maths expert Bobby Seagull tells us how long he thinks you should consider waiting before you buy. Try our cost per use calculator below to help you weigh up your spending decisions.

Bobby Seagull worked with us to help us develop two formulas to:

1. help you work out how long you should wait before buying something.

2. show how much something might cost you to use over time.

Try them out below to help avoid buying something you might regret later.

How long should I wait to avoid buyer's regret?

Bobby used our research data below to work out exactly how long to wait between finding something you want and buying it, to best avoid buyer’s regret. On average, he found waiting at least two days and 21 hours should do the trick.

9% of people who bought a phone regretted it within the year, largely because they felt they’d spent too much on it.

Work out the
'cost-per-use' before you buy

Work out the 'cost-per-use' before you buy

Use the simple calculator below to consider how much a purchase could cost you over time, depending on how much you’ll use it. For example, if you buy a hoover for £120 and use it daily for 2 years, it would have cost you 16p per use.

Calculate the 'cost per use' of your purchase

£

Here’s the cost per use, showing how it changes depending on how long you’ll continue to use it

6 months = £9.62 per use
1 year = £4.80 per use
2 years = £2.40 per use
5 years = £0.96 per use
10 years = £0.48 per use

Generally, the less something costs to use the better value it is. Bobby developed a formula to find out which commonly purchased items usually have the lowest cost per use. Unsurprisingly, household items that people use every day like freezers, fridges and hoovers offer the most value based on how much they cost and how regularly they’re used. When it comes to spending on experiences, like tickets and trips away, these are often a one-off event so have a high cost of use. Despite this, they’re the least regretted purchase, suggesting the value of these isn't about pounds and pence.

Our research asked 4,000* UK adults about how they spend. On average, people reported making seven large impulse purchases each year. That tots up to at least £1,050 annually. We also found that:

  • half of people spend impulsively because they enjoy treating themselves and a third do it to make themselves feel better
  • people are most likely to regret buying footwear, bikes, cosmetics, and games consoles or other gadgets
  • experiences are the least regretted type of purchase and are seen as a more rewarding investment than new possessions
  • the least regretted possessions purchased were items such as washing machines, kitchen accessories, phones and TVs

*Vanquis commissioned Censuswide to survey 4,000 UK adults in July 2023 among a sample of 18+ nationally representative consumers. Censuswide abides by and employs members of the Market Research Society and follows the MRS code of conduct which is based on the ESOMAR principles. The average regretted amount spent per year is £183.84 based on the research. The UK adult population (18+) is 52,890,444 according to latest figures from Censuswide (which come from ONS midyear estimates 2021). This means that based on this research, it is estimated that £9,723,080,906.27 or £9.7 billion a year has been spent on regretted purchases by the nation.