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StitcherDo you ever think how amazing it is that we make thousands of micro-decisions a day?! The bad news: this comes with our willpower reserves all dried up by the end of the day. While we have a powerful mind capacity, it isn’t running on unlimited power. This episode explores the psychology behind our spending behaviors and the ways to acknowledge and empower our thoughts, feelings, and behavior to help us stick to our budget more effectively.
We’re not gonna be able to change our behaviors if we’re not looking at the thoughts and feelings leading to us doing it.
Sponsors:
- Rolling over. Kinda like being pushed over, but less violent. And very different from BEING a pushover. Rolling over is what happened to the monkeys in the bed and while it didn’t work out too well for them, we’ve got a version of rolling over that DOESN’T bump you in the head and it’s called Capitalize where you can roll over your old 401(k) or other employer retirement account for free at frugalfriendspodcast.com/capitalize.
Cognitive Science Tips For Sticking To Your Budget
This article from Forbes outlines some cognitive science basics that might just help us in sticking to our budget!
What Jen + Jill have to say:
Every decision you make slowly wears you down little by little, resulting in decision fatigue. Jen decides early head-on to combat decision fatigue in any way possible. Jen says understanding your own thoughts and feelings behind what may be leading us to overspend and not stick to our budget.
While we highly recommend getting free stuff, don’t allow it to take you for granted–they are still marketing tactics. Jill warns everyone to beware of introductory offers such as credit cards offering low APR, only to give you a very high APR in the long run (this may not be true for some). Additionally, Jen emphasizes how social media has become a big ‘ol advertisement as it’s constantly bombarded with people or companies trying to sell us something, so be careful when you use them!
5 Sneaky Mental Tricks to Spend Less When Shopping
This article from Vox gives us a list of psychology tips and mental tricks to stop impulse buys and cut spending while shopping.
What Jen + Jill have to say:
Shopping is less hassle when you go with a list. It’s practical and can help you not forget items you need to buy. Jill strongly encourages you to double-check the store you’re at and see if they’re giving you the best value. You should also learn to say no to sales unless the item is already on your list. If you don’t need it, it’s not on your grocery list, or you already have slept on it, and you still feel indecisive about it, say no!
Many of us consider finances a source of stress, so Jen wants you to be extra conscious when you’re spending because feeling emotional may further cloud your judgment. Vulnerability is beautiful, and knowing it will help you be able to protect yourself. Try sleeping on an item you think you want to buy before purchasing them because sleep is helpful for our thought patterns and memory formation.
Psychology tricks we use to keep from overspending
Jill has A LIST to keep her away from overspending, even if she’s more known as a saver. Jen doesn’t scroll shopping sites to entertain herself. She shops in the grocery store’s perimeter; she stays out of the middle as it’s where most unnecessary items can be found. However, you may find her gettin’ some chips or a frozen pizza–after all, Jill’s still human. Before checking out, Jill reviews her cart on which items make her feel good, and this continues as a self-check–if it makes her stressed, then that’s the only answer she needs to not buy it.
Meanwhile, when Jen and many of her friends were just newlyweds, it felt overwhelming to see what they were doing on Facebook as she was still paying off her debt, so she unfollowed a few on social media. Also, she avoids physical clutter to have more space for cognitive energy.
Bill of The Week
Thank you Laura from New York for sharing your Target credit card bill that you FINALLY paid off!! YAY! And got rid of it!
Thanks so Much for Listening!
Thanks so much for listening! Many of you know we have a private community where we do monthly money challenges and offer accountability groups. We want to congratulate one of our members for a big win:
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Back when you aired the episode about unclaimed money I went and looked for myself, my husband and siblings.
My husband got a bunch back (previous military) way back when and got ANOTHER check today for 5K!!! And we needed it since we just paid for the boys summer camp!
Congrats! Thanks for listening and if you want to check out our monthly challenge community head to frugalfriendspodcast.com/club to see what challenge we have coming up next.
Keep leaving us reviews on iTunes or Stitcher, and sending the screenshot to reviews@frugalfriendspodcast.com. And don’t forget to share your favorite quote from the episode by using the hashtag #FrugalFriendsNote. 😉
