This ad above – get $15 if you spend $150? Huh?
Do people actually read that and get excited? As in, “Oh great, if I go out and spend $150 quickly on certain items (asterisk asterisk), I’ll get 15 free dollars – free I tell you – fifteen whole dollars – what a deal!”
Apparently, there are suckers for this—and I should know, as I’m no exception. I like my 2% Cash Back Credit Card because the more thousands of dollars I spend, the more $50 gift cards to Outback Steakhouse I can accumulate.
Can someone help me stop spending money? Is there a way to moderate, or is it like alcohol or food or insert problem item here – is moderation a fallacy?
Buying those pants or shoes or shirt that you love releases the same dopamine that gambling or drugs does. Or porn or chocolate or scrolling on end for another better reel to remove you from confronting what you actually need to do in that moment, like be with your kids, or finish that assignment.
But I have to see how many likes my post gets. That dopamine hit must be had.
Do I really need all of these clothes in my closet? Surely not. Do I need that book, that video game, that TV, that pair of shoes, that subscription?
The only way I’ve found whereby I can assuredly cut calories is by fasting. If I eat, I eat. If I don’t, I don’t. Simple as that. For me, calorie restrictions are harder than just going completely without.
The same has to be true for spending. I must go an entire day without spending a dollar. If I spend one dollar, the floodgates open. Maybe not that day. But $10 here today leads the way to $60 the next day, and then $200 might be gone on the weekend.
So if you can go one day without spending a single cent, try two days. After that, a week.
Fill your gas tank up and buy your groceries at the beginning of the week—Saturday or Sunday or Monday—one of those three days. Then go through the next seven days without spending a single cent. See how it works for you. Can you do it? I haven’t done it yet. I plan to, at the worst time: the holidays.
Good luck. Let me know how it goes at johnrobsonblog@gmail.com.
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