St. Patrick’s Day is here. A day where you’ll see throngs of people wearing green, many of them roaming the street drunk out of their wits.

Though there are many misconceptions and myths as to how the shamrock and the color green (cheers to green beer!) became associated with St. Patrick’s Day, perhaps the most regrettable green is the money spent by inebriated shoppers.

Beyond drunken hookups and morning-after hangovers, a recent study finds that intoxicated people on this green holiday are quite prone to making absurd online purchases.

According to Finder.com’s survey of 3,123 Americans, the most common drunk purchases made on St. Patrick’s Day are shoes and clothes at 7.1 percent, gambling and cigarettes tied at 6.2 percent, movies/DVDs at 4.0 percent, and technology at 3.3 percent.

The survey also revealed unplanned drunk shopping amounts to $139, but men are more likely to make more expensive drunk purchases, averaging $233 in a session, four times as much as women who spend only an average of $54 in a session.

Purchases made by drunk men and women also vary greatly, While women are more interested in shoes & clothes when they are drunk shopping, men are more interested in gambling than actually shopping online.

Don’t Drunk-Shop this St. Paddy’s Day!

If in the past you have found yourself faced with an online order you regret because you made it while you are drunk, here are some easy tips to avoid this from happening again:

1. Switch off data services on your phone before you go out drinking. You’ll still be able to text and make calls, but you won’t be able to easily indulge in website window shopping.
2. Don’t save credit card details when you shop online. That way, you can’t easily make a one-click purchase.
3. Set yourself clear, long-term savings goals. Those will help you resist accidental shopping sprees.

You can also use an app to prevent yourself from doing something you’ll regret in the morning, such as Drunk Lock. Before a user goes out drinking, launch the app. This prevents users from accessing other apps while this app is running unless the user correctly answers basic math problems, which the user can set the difficulty for. If the user gets a question wrong, they must start over again. If the user is too drunk to disable the app, then he should not be allowed to make online purchases or even contacting exes.

photo credit: St. Patricks Day weekend in Chicago via photopin (license)