Budgets & Stress Shopping

I did a question box in my stories on Instagram, and I asked what people were struggling with. One follower replied, “sticking to a budget, not stress shopping”. So, now we are going to chat about both of those.

One of the most common themes with budgeting is that people often feel restricted or like they cannot have any fun. The truth is, that if you live within your means and have money left over after your main expenses are accounted for (housing, food, and transportation) then it would make sense to give yourself some recreational funds.

This can look different for everyone. Some people are super intense about paying debt, saving, and/or investing, so they will send all their money to those goals, but that does not mean you have to.

However, if you go out with your friends for Happy Hour twice a month and you decide one month that you are going budget, but you do not budget money for those twice a month outings?? You will definitely break your budget. It is unrealistic to think that you are going to wake up one day and be incredible single-goal-focused in regard to money.

Changing your money habits takes a lot of work and a lot of mindset shifts. And maybe you cannot truly afford to go to every outing you currently attend, or indulge in certain activities, but that is the point of the budget; to see what you can realistically afford to do with your money.

As for stress shopping – this is about confronting your impulse control. If you find it hard to say no to things, then you need to make it harder to say yes.

How do you do that?

Delete the apps. Delete Amazon off your phone, and before you do that, delete all your payment methods from the app as well. This way, if you happen upon something you want you can make it a little harder for yourself. Another Amazon tip would be to come up with a designated amount you will allow yourself to spend and purchase a gift card with that amount, and once you spend the gift card then you know you cannot order from there again.

You should also delete any app where you often splurge, or impulse buy from.

If you are person who impulse buys in person, then start placing online orders. For instance, if you go $50-$100 over every week on groceries, then maybe consider making a meal plan and ordering all the food you need for a pickup or delivery service.

Make the impulse buy harder to achieve.

Financial success is not all about making a ton of money, while, yes, that does make it easier, you also must have a good mindset about money.  I do offer a course to help you completely shift your mindset about money. This was something that took me a long time to master, but I promise if you put in the work you will be able to identify a change in your habits surrounding money.