Change Your Spending Habits

Change Your Spending Habits

Our mind is so powerful, we can invent, create, experience, and destroy things with our thoughts. No one ever told us that habit forming is a basic neurology basis and we have the power to change our habits. Most of our daily money spending habits are not good decisions because we are focused on a habit purchase and this habit add up over time. We must understand how a habit works, and figure out the cue, routine, and reward.  

Habits occur from the basal ganglia, a part of the brain where the unconscious thought takes place. 

Spending habits are created from basic patterns of a neurological loop with three parts” 1) Cue 2) routine 3) reward. Changing habits isn’t easy and can take a long time, but our thoughts are powerful and we can change our habits. 

To figure out how much we spend, we identify our spending habits (cue) and what pushes us to handle money. Imagine, we receive our paychecks, and decide how much to save and how much to spend the following week, but a routine kicks in and we act without thinking. The next thing, our bank account is less than we anticipated. For example; We buy a cup of coffee every day. The loop: we walk into the cafeteria, buy a cup of coffee, sit with friends and drink our coffee.

To take control over our spending habits, we figure out our daily spending patterns and change the behavior. We ask: When do I spend? Morning, afternoon, weekday, weekend? Are my purchases big or small? Do I spend more the friends or alone?  Cue question: What’s the cue for my spending routine?

We are not conscious of cravings that drive our behavior nor the rewards we seek to satisfy our craving.

When we feel the need for that cup of coffee from the cafeteria, we change our routine by taking a walk away from the cafeteria, as our reward, and return to our work space. The next day, we buy a bottled water and return to our work space. The following day, we bring coffee from home, take a walk, or sit with friends. What we are doing is figuring out what drives our craving.

Our brain sees: 1) Cue 2) Routine 3) Reward.

To figure out our spending habits, we should be aware where and how our spending habits take place: 1) Time 2) Emotional state 3) Location 4) People. Then we write down five things that take place when our craving hits. We identify our loop, reward for our behavior, what triggered our cue, and our routine. We change our routine by choosing a behavior that will give us a reward for our craving. 

Now, we create a better spending habit.