The common shopping habit that could end up costing you thousands down the line

As many prepare to get their finances in order for the new year, new research has uncovered the one habit that will reveal whether you’re good or bad with money.

When shopping, the decision to choose quality or quantity says a lot about the state of your finances, according to a new study conducted by researchers at the University of Colorado Boulder.

If you tend to go for cheaper products and buy more of those items, you’re more likely to spend more money now and rack up more debt in the long run.

‘Buy more [things] makes it harder to track spending,” said Rodrigo Dias, assistant marketing professor and co-author of the study. told Money.com.

“This can lead to unintentional overspending, which accumulates over time.”

Dias said the data collected in the study shows that this one simple shopping habit can reveal a lot about a person’s financial position.

This is largely because consumers tend to be very consistent with their shopping habits, he explained.

For example, if you buy high-quality shoes, but only a few pairs, this is usually the way you shop in other ways, for example with food and furniture.

The data, collected from 24,000 shoppers, also found that shoppers who prefer quantity actually spent more overall, built up more debt, and struggled to pay off that debt.

In a shopping simulation, the quantity buyers selected goods worth $89, compared to $79 for quality buyers.

According to the study, 26 percent of quantity-oriented shoppers saw their credit card debt increase over a one-year period.

While only 13 percent of quality-oriented shoppers saw an increase in debt over the same period.

Debt is also likely to last longer for quantity-oriented shoppers, as frequent purchases mean more of their income is spent on spending rather than paying off existing debt.

There are several factors that underlie our shopping behavior, Dias explains.

This may involve price drops due to more expensive, higher quality items, but also due to other cultural, psychological and economic factors.

For example, quantity buyers often suffer from compulsive purchasing or a lack of self-control, Dias argued.

26 percent of quantity-oriented shoppers saw an increase in credit card debt over a one-year period

The study concluded that consumers who buy in large quantities typically experience lower levels of overall financial well-being and that this in turn can push people to buy more.

“This finding is particularly disturbing,” he says. ‘It points to the possibility of a cycle of financial vulnerability, where financial problems lead to purchasing habits that exacerbate these problems, creating a vicious cycle.’