1.Budget
Budgeting your spending money is the first step to reducing spending. Create a budget, pick an amount for spending and then spend that amount guilt free, but don’t go over it.
2. Buy gift cards.
We often have out clients purchase Amazon, Starbucks or Target gift cards that create a sort of “allowance” for spending at these stores. In this way, you protect your bank information but you also have a hard limit to what you can spend while still having the freedom to spend.
Both of these habits will get you started. Both will help you naturally start being more selective about how often and what you buy. Then we can build on those habits.
3. Delete apps / remove payment options
When we want to break a habit, we want to make that habit hard to do. So, if I wanted to break the chocolate eating habit, I would first of all not keep any of it in my house. That makes it a little harder, right? In the same way, we want to delete any online shopping apps off of our phone. Get rid of email subscriptions and notifications. Maybe you can go in an delete remembered passwords or even payment methods. How can you make the habit harder to do?
4. Have better things to do
If you find a certain time of day is the biggest culprit for your spending, find something better to do during that time. A hobby? A game with the kids? A walk? If you’re doing something you love, you’ll be less tempted to buy.
5. Be more picky about what you bring into your home.
We don’t let just anything come into our homes. It has to be super functional, guaranteed not to just add to the clutter. It needs to be something we love and really need. Maybe there are rules like one thing in, one thing out. If it’s clothes, it has to go with three things we already own. If it’s decor, we’ve already cleared the space.
Bonus: 24 hour rule / $100 partner agreement rule
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