When it comes to spending money, it can be difficult to set boundaries as it’s too easy to spend money without barely any thought. This is due to the easy access we have to spending our money, such as online platforms where we can make instant purchases. Having this easy access encourages us to buy impulsively rather than carefully considering the purchases. Spending in this way can lead to stress as it can hinder our progress in achieving our financial goals.
This is where mindful spending comes in. Mindful spending can help us to pause before we buy and carefully consider each and every purchase. It can encourage us to ask why we are spending the money and whether it works with our financial goals. Learn ways to incorporate mindful spending into your daily life to help reduce stress and achieve your financial goals.
What is mindful spending?
Mindful spending is all about being intentional with your purchases. When you’re mindful, you become more aware of your thoughts and feelings, making it more difficult to get caught up in them and make impulse decisions. Spending mindfully focuses on making financial decisions with a clear mind while being present, engaged, and free from any distractions.
It can help you to budget your finances better and save money. However, it isn’t all just about budgeting. Mindful spending also includes spending money on more meaningful and helpful purchases. For example, it can give you enough money to help those in need by donating to charities or to ensure you can meet a religious obligation, such as to pay Zakat. This way of spending makes you much more financially responsible and uses your money for a better purpose in life to give you more value.
Tips to incorporate mindful spending daily
So, how do you be more mindful when spending and where do you begin? Follow these tips below to incorporate mindful spending daily and change your financial management for good.
Set goals and values
To start being more mindful of your purchases, you need to set your financial goals and values to allow you to spend in alignment with these. These can be things like saving for new experiences, giving you the chance to retire early, allowing you to enjoy life and the things you love and saving for a large purchase such as your own home.
Being clear on your goals and values will help you to consider each purchase you make and if it aligns with them or if it will go against them. Mindful spending allows you to decide what you feel is best to spend on as it’s all about helping you achieve your goals and values. This means it’s an individual decision, so if you love a treat once a week with a few goodies then go ahead if that’s a part of your values!
Find your spending triggers
To prevent any mindless purchases and impulse buying, you need to find your spending triggers. These are the things that make you not think about spending, putting aside any thoughts and just instantly purchasing. Triggers could be overspending when you’re stressed as a way to calm down and treat yourself. They could also be spending too much on takeaways because you don’t feel like cooking or being constantly exposed to new products on social media which gives you the itch to spend.
Identifying your spending triggers lets you understand your habits better and yourself. It addresses why you shop and overspend, giving you a sense of direction to improve these areas and reduce purchases.
Tackle these triggers
Once these triggers are identified, you can create a plan to tackle them head-on and prevent overspending. Planning ahead for your triggers makes it easier to avoid them as pure willpower and motivation can quickly crumble after a bad day. A simple example of this is going shopping for food when you’re hungry, which leads to you buying too much and overspending. Instead, you can plan to go food shopping after you have eaten to steer away from this trigger.
Track your spending habits
It is also best to track your spending habits to get a clearer picture of the way you mindlessly spend and help you turn the habits around to be more mindful. Track every purchase you make in your banking app, no matter how big or small they are. Doing this not only gives you a better understanding of where your money is going, but it helps to show you where you can make changes. It may be best to focus on smaller spending habits because these can add up to a large cost.
Pause before you buy
Before any purchase you make, you should pause and ask yourself if this is a necessary purchase. In this brief pause, you should carefully consider if it aligns with your goals and values and if it will give you everlasting happiness and usefulness. If you determine that the purchase doesn’t meet any of these criteria, it’s best to walk away from it and save your money. Doing this pause can be a useful tool in preventing impulse buying.
Use cash instead of cards when possible
Spending with a card has quickly advanced to the point where you can easily tap your card on machines to make purchases. This makes it even easier than ever to make mindless purchases as there’s no effort required and, before you know it, you can spend lots of money at all different places in just one tap. Due to this, it may be best to make purchases with cash instead. This makes your purchases feel more tangible and real as you need to hand over physical money, displaying to you how much you’re spending compared to when you use cards.
Ignore discounts unless you really need it
Discounts and sales are many people’s spending triggers as they entice you to spend money you weren’t planning on spending through discounted prices. You may be able to save over 50% on an item, but you will save 100% of your money if you don’t spend it at all.
Sales and discounts attract you to cheaper products and instantly activate your mindless spending habits. You are more likely to impulse buy a sale item because it looks so attractive due to the cheap price. However, sales and discounts should be used as a way to get something you need and have wanted to buy. This saves you money as you can find the best price for the product you want while preventing useless spending for the sake of a cheap price.
Use these ways to incorporate mindful spending in your daily life to reduce stress and financial worries. Being mindful of your spending allows you to work toward your financial goals and prevent overspending while learning more about yourself and your spending habits.
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