Spending triggers. If you don’t already know what yours are, you’ll quickly learn during a no spend month!
Your spending triggers are probably such a habit that you don’t even recognize them. One of the great things about a no spend month is that it forces you to pay attention to your spending. Here are some common spending triggers you may face and suggestions for dealing with them.
Common Spending Triggers
Retailers
Stores/Mall. If you go to the store or the mall without a need or a list, you’re opening yourself up to potential impulse buys. The #1 goal of retail stores is to convince you to part with your hard earned cash. Retailers pay marketing professionals big bucks for strategic product placement that appeals to your senses with bright colors and your mind with the illusion of sales.
Online Retailers. I don’t know about you, but for me, staying out of the stores is considerably easier than avoiding online retailers. Between your email inbox and brightly colored ads on every site (that stalk you), if you are online at all, you will be barraged with the temptation to spend each and every day.
With saved credit card information and the luxury of one click payment, online retailers make it too easy to buy. The ease of checkout, in addition to the promo codes, flash sales, and free shipping can be a recipe for disaster when you’re trying not to spend.
Solution? If you don’t have a real need and you don’t want to spend, stay out of the store, off the retail websites and automatically delete emails from retailers (especially this month!).
If you happen to see something you want or need, delay it! Tell yourself to wait until next month and, if you still want it, you can get it then. The key is to not give into the desire for immediate gratification.
Convenience
In this day and age, convenience is no further than a finger tap away. You can have an Uber or pizza at your door in a matter of minutes. You can have your groceries in an hour without ever leaving your couch. Those new shoes you wanted? They’ll be there in 2 days (free shipping!). You don’t even have to wash and cut fruits and veggies yourself.
And credit cards make access to these conveniences easier than ever. No need to have cash when you can just swipe.
All this convenience is designed to separate you from your money. When you don’t have to physically make a purchase using anything other than a small piece of plastic, it doesn’t always compute that you just spent X dollars of your hard earned cash. And you don’t even give a second thought to how many hours of hard work it took to make a purchase.
Solution? Ban yourself from online purchases, credit card use, or pre-cut veggies for a month (try it!). Freeze (literally) your credit cards and force yourself to use cash for all purchases. Remove all the convenience apps off your phone. Plan meals ahead of time for those busy days. Do what you need to do to eliminate your convenience spending for a month.
Social Expectations
Peer pressure. Ugh. It doesn’t stop at middle school. You don’t want to be seen as the “cheap” (or poor) one in your social circle or family, but you can’t join in on all the spendy activities and get control of your finances too. Celebrations of birthdays, holidays, weddings and other life events can be total money sucks. It’s hard to navigate a healthy social life when you are trying to keep spending in check.
Solutions?
Have the conversation. It’s not an easy one, but it’s necessary when you are trying to pay off debt or save more. Simply say you’re on a budget and have financial goals you are trying to reach. Not everyone will understand, but most will.
Say no. You don’t have to say no all the time, but saying no to the occasional night out won’t hurt anything. And, please, be honest. Don’t just make up lame excuses. If it’s a close friend or family member, let them know about your financial goals.
Suggest a change in plans. Host a potluck, suggest going out for lunch, rather than dinner, or happy hour, rather than late night drinks. Propose a different way of celebrating, such as a gift exchange (with a spending limit) rather than buying for everyone. Look for alternative options to expensive parties and events, such as hosting in your own backyard, having a DJ rather than a band, desert, rather than a 5 course meal, or 20 guests rather than 200.
Feelings
Your feelings may have more of an affect on your spending than you give them credit for.
Maybe you’re stressed. Or hungry, or bored, or depressed, or upset. So. Many. Feelings. Sometimes you just really want those feelings to go away and, in the moment, you don’t care how much it costs.
Whether it’s retail therapy, dinner out, or drinks with friends, you are willing to throw caution to the wind to try to squelch these feelings. Though spending doesn’t cure the yucky feelings, it is a distraction.
Solution? Be mindful of your feelings and the desire to drown your sorrows in spending. Find alternatives. Invite friends or family over for dinner, go for a walk, call a friend, play a game, watch a Netflix movie, read a book or immerse yourself in a favorite hobby.
You’ll learn a whole lot about your spending triggers by participating in a no spend month. Being aware of the triggers can help keep spending in check.
Even if you’re not doing a no spend month, try keeping a spending journal to figure out where your biggest money leaks are and how you can stop them.
What are your spending triggers? Have you faced any of them during the no spend month?
Want to know how I’m doing on my No Spend Month Challenge?
No Spend Month Update #1
I used to use shopping to cure boredom, but I’ve pretty much beaten that tendency by just not going places. I still struggle with grocery impulse buys, and probably with some Christmas shopping impulse buys (pretty sure I bought some things for Little Bit and Jon I didn’t consider as well as I should.) But I guess that if I can get rid of most of them, I can still control my money without feeling too deprived.
I think boredom is one of the biggest spending triggers. For me, distraction with other activities and hobbies is a great cure. I love rustic decor – it’s one of the things I can “shop” for online for hours. I started making it a hobby by creating some pieces myself – so I have something to keep me busy and something “new” in the end. Win-win.
“If you don’t have a real need and you don’t want to spend, stay out of the store, off the retail websites and automatically delete emails from retailers.” This sounds so simple, but it’s easy to miss. Like Emily said, a lot of people go to stores when they are bored. It just becomes a sort of instinct. Since high school we’ve learned to just go to the mall when we don’t have anything to do. Switching this out for other activities is a hugely powerful way to avoid spending triggers.
Thanks for the reminder, Amanda!
Thanks, Matt! It’s definitely easier said than done. You really have to pay attention to notice when it’s happening. Substituting something else for the shopping is an absolute necessity. We all have those things we enjoy – reading, cooking, hiking, gardening, art – when the boredom strikes, those enjoyable activities can rescue us!
Convenience almost took me down last night. We had homemade pizza on the menu but when I went to make it I realized (at 4:30 already) that we were out of yeast! My first thought was “Call Dominos; you can get two pizzas for twelve bucks and you’ll be eating in half an hour.” But I stood strong and made the pizzas – gasp! – without yeast!! And guess what, we survived! And the pizza was fine! 🙂 Here’s to a superfrugal 2017 and surpassed financial goals. 🙂
Awesome save, Laurie! That’s a huge win, in my book!!! 🙂 That happens to me more than I care to admit. I make my meal plan, and find out at the last minute I don’t have all the ingredients. I’m happy to hear the pizza was just fine – even without the yeast!
It’s these types of things that really have me motivated for the year. I’ve had a couple of times I would have spent, but didn’t. It really gives me that momentum to go into 2017 with a winning mindset. Yes to a superfrugal year and surpassing those financial goals! 🙂
I hardly go into stores other than Costco and the grocery store anymore. I finally broke my clothes shopping ban and headed to Target for some new tee shirts and it was just strange. I think I walked in to Target 2x in 2016. It’s a lot easier to not spend, when I’m not in super addictive stores like Target. Plus we have been getting rid of so much stuff this year, that the thought of adding more is almost too much to bear.
You sound a lot like me, Ms. Montana! I feel completely out of my element when I go to a store other than the grocery store. I took my kids to the mall over winter break and had a major culture shock.
And clearing out clutter is one of the best ways to stop buying stuff, in my opinion!
Social expectations is definitely something that a lot of folks (especially higher income folks) have to deal with. There’s a belief that if you’re in a job that traditionally makes a lot of money, you should have all the stuff that goes with it – big house, nice car, etc. Luckily for me, I seem to have generally surrounded myself with people who aren’t big time spenders, so it makes it a lot easier.
The thing I still have trouble countering is when someone eggs me on to live now while I’m young. That’s sort of true and sort of hard to counter. When I just talk about how I have different priorities and values and that I am living now (just living a little differently), it doesn’t seem to make sense to the person because I’m not valuing the traditional things you’re supposed to value.
Also, I bailed on that no-spend month, but will be following yours!
Surrounding yourself with more like-minded people makes the social factor easier to deal with.
“The thing I still have trouble countering is when someone eggs me on to live now while I’m young. That’s sort of true and sort of hard to counter.” I hear you. But, what do they mean by “living”? And, more importantly, what is your idea of “living”? I think you got it when you say you are “living now” – just differently. That’s a crucial point.
Sorry you had to bail – but happy you’re following along!!!
I agree. It took me a long time to find like minded friends. I live and work in a fast paced environment, with a lot of frivolous spenders. My friends don’t think twice about going out for $100 dinners on any night of the week. I was sucked into this a little bit, but have slowly won them over! Now my friends are saving more money than ever (at least they say they are) and those $100 dinners are a thing of the past. Now we have get togethers at someones house and cook. It ends up being a lot less expensive and more fun.
What’s so great about this, MM, is that rather than trying to find new friends, you’ve shown them a different way. That’s a huge win, in my opinion! You’re all saving money and having even more fun than before (with less financial stress to boot!).
Amazon “One Click Ordering” is the Worst. Invention. Ever.
Don’t Click. Don’t Click. Don’t Click…..
Great post, love the frugal month challenge, tho must admit I didn’t jump in on it. Good luck with the challenge, avoid those triggers!
Thanks, Fritz! If there’s one thing I fall victim to, it’s Amazon’s one click checkout. I’m sure it’s great for them though! From a marketing standpoint, it’s brilliant.
Convenience creeps in for us for dinner ever so often, We make sure we have quick meal ideas on hand. Pasta, tacos, etc that are easy, quick to make and the family enjoys. I also try and remind myself how much cheaper a home-cook meal will cost us compared to take-out. That usually clinches it for me.
Having those quick, go to meals on hand at all times is a complete necessity in our house. Pasta is the go-to for me. I’m with you on the reminder of the money saved. Every time I cook dinner, but don’t want to, I remind myself how much I’m saving over getting take-out or going out.
Oh Amanda, never have I needed to read this more! I am unsubscribing to all of these damn retailer emails coming to me – the temptation for 30% off at Anthropologie is more than I can overcome!!!
Glad it helped, Linda! 🙂 Unsubscribing is a great way to curb the impulse buys! I admit, the ones that are hard for me are the gardening discounts – I’m getting all sorts of emails on discounted gardening supplies right now – and it’s the perfect time since we’re in a deep freeze and I feel a burning desire to escape winter.
Another suggestion to curb online shopping – install an ad blocker. That way you won’t see that thing you are drooling over on Amazon on every second website that you visit.
YES! Thank you so much for the great suggestion, Mrs. BITA! Those ads from Amazon stock me constantly. Though, I admit, it’s not very exciting stuff – vitamins aren’t something I drool over, but they still nag me to place that order!
Convenience is the one that gets me, usually when meal planning has failed. It’s definitely a good idea to have some very simple meals on hand that can be thrown together at the last minute.
Agreed, Gary. I think convenience gets us all from time to time. Planning ahead for those busy days can help a lot!
A combination of convenience and laziness is my downfall. Putting off known purchases (like gifts) is so easy to put off because of the convenience that is online shopping with one day shipping. The problem is that one day shipping is expensive, and last minute shopping means no shopping around for the best deal.
Waiting on purchases you know you need to make can definitely end up costing more. As for the gifts – I try to keep a gift stash for women and kids (because they are just way easier to buy for then men, in my opinion). I tell my mom and grandma I go shopping for them in my basement. BUT, my dad’s birthday is tomorrow and I haven’t gotten anything yet (it is one of the exceptions to my no spend month).
Amazon is my downfall. I try to avoid going on there unless I truly need something because if I read enough reviews I can talk myself into NEEDING something which I clearly don’t need. Anyway fantastic post and I look forward to reading your Saturday update.
You’re not alone! Like you, I stay away unless I really need something – and I hear you on the reviews. The biggest draw for me is I don’t have to step foot in a store. Thanks, MSM!
Amazon is also my downfall! Haha. What I’ve found that works for me is putting a bunch of things in my checkout, and checking them a few days later to see if I still want them. I almost always don’t, which has really made me realize how much stuff I buy on impulse.
Same for me, Alexis! Letting things sit in the cart for a few days is a great idea! That’s a good exercise to see how much you do buy on impulse too. Whenever I leave items sit in the cart, I almost never buy them either.
Love the post. So many thanks many things I can relate too. For me it’s about setting boundaries to keep those triggers as far away as possible and not allow them to trigger me.
I’ve also seen a big trigger for people is coupons!! That’s deal they think they are getting can be made so attractive by a department store or marketing team.
Thank you! Agreed, as long as you recognize the triggers, setting boundaries and finding alternatives is a great way to keep them under control.
Yes! Coupons, sales, limited time offers – all of those can be triggers for spending. And they are sneaky, because it seems like you’re “saving” money.
Thanks for the stopping by!
The best way to avoid common spending trigger is to be mindful of your expenses. Try to keep them in control!
Exactly, Desi! Recognizing them is the first step to controlling them! 🙂 Thanks for the comment!
I can definitely relate to the social expectations trigger. I like to go with friends to the bars to watch some football games. Sometimes I won’t actually order anything (even food) because I just like the atmosphere and excitement of the environment itself.
However, sometimes people think it’s weird that I don’t even grab a beer or anything haha! More recently I haven’t given in to the pressure so I’m making progress!
It’s a hard thing to navigate, for sure. If you plan ahead and budget for those expenses – and then are intentional about spending when you go out, then I say go for it. Good for you for not giving into the pressure!