During a recent video conference call, I commented to one of my co-workers that I really liked what she'd done with her workspace inside her house and then I showed off a new chair that my husband and I had bought for our living room.

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My co-worker friend and I laughed over our purchases and agreed that although we could have made do with what we had, there was some sort of strange and invisible pull that made us feel like we had no other option but to buy the pieces of furniture that we did and that we felt really good inside after making our purchases.

If you've felt a strange feeling at some point over the last year (since the coronavirus pandemic began) like there was something you just HAD to buy (even though you really didn't), you might have been sucked in by what experts are now calling 'emotional spending.'

'Emotional spending' is when a person buys something that they definitely don't need, but think that doing so will make them feel a sense of happiness. Think of it as being along the lines of emotional eating, filling your body with food that you don't need as a way to try to make yourself feel better emotionally.

Half of New Yorkers admit that they've been victim to pandemic ‘emotional spending.’ One-third of New Yorkers are splurging on more expensive liquor while one in five New Yorkers say they've turned to online shopping to try to make themselves feel better.

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