Ways Your Money Habits Make You Sick: Buying Groceries with a Credit Card

You're more likely to give in to the impulse to fill your shopping cart with cookies, cakes and other unhealthy foods if you pay with plastic. "We tend to be much less rational in evaluating our purchases when we pay with a credit card," notes Kit Yarrow, a professor of psychology and marketing at Golden Gate University. In fact, a study published in the Journal of Consumer Research found that consumers who paid for food with credit cards were more likely to choose unhealthy foods and consume more than those who paid with cash.

Solution: At the grocery store, carry cash — and a shopping list. And of course, never shop when hungry.

• Up Next: You Don't Make Enough Money


• Go Back: You Shop at a Warehouse Club