Have you ever tried to give up overspending?
What is the success rate in giving up overspending?
Why people turn up unsuccessful when they want to give up overspending?
Looking at it on the surface level may not give you the answers you need.
Almost everyone, at some point, realises that they’re spending too much on something they don’t want to. Yet they can’t stop even if they try to give up overspending, because it has become a habit, it has become their “normal”.
All they need is one little push at the right time to overcome this.
If you are someone wise enough to recognise that you are overspending, you are in the right place and this is your right time.
Go ahead and read. It is the beginning of your betterment.
Table of Contents:
- Uncontrollable Nature Of Overspending
- Solution For Overspending
- Going Up In Savings
- Get Busy With Saving
- Listen “Savings”
- Watch “Savings”
- Read “Savings”
- Experience “Savings”
- Input-Output Strategy
- The Bottom Line
Uncontrollable nature of Overspending
The basal ganglia part of your brain, where habits are formed, proves that the above saying is true.
When it comes to changing a habit, doing it through negation can never work.
For example: If you walk up to a kid and say “Don’t think about chocolate” the first thing they’ll think about is chocolate. Even if they weren’t thinking about chocolate in the first place.
So what do you think will happen if you concentrate all your energy on giving up overspending?
You stress yourself out and end up overspending. It becomes an inevitable compulsion.
Giving up overspending is a struggle, no questions there. It may also cause negative emotions like guilt, frustration and shame.
Giving up overspending is a struggle. It brings a lot of negative emotions like guilt, frustration and shame. When you are thinking about giving up overspending, sub-consciously you are still thinking about overspending. The more you try to give up overspending, the more you indulge in overspending.
Directly, thinking about giving up overspending will not give you the desired result.
Solution for Overspending
Any strategy to control overspending will be stressful and useless.
It doesn’t mean that you need to suffer perennially with overspending without a solution.
You can approach the solution in an indirect way to achieve what you want. That is through diversion.
For example: If you want your kid to eat vegetables instead of more chocolates, saying “eat the vegetables” plainly don’t always work.
But if you could ask them “Do you want carrot or cucumber?”you’ll be more successful in making them not think about chocolate and eat some greens.
The point is, if you want to kill your overspending habit, divert yourself to do something that will eliminate your overspending habit as a side-effect.
Here, the solution is to—stop thinking about giving up overspending; and start thinking about going up in savings.
Going up in Savings
Try to go up in your savings. Think about how to increase your savings. Trying to save more is becoming stronger.
It brings positive emotions like hope, pride and joy.
This brings a paradigm shift in your mind-set. In stead of getting stressed with giving up overspending, you will be getting energised with going up in savings.
In your attempt to go up in savings, you will sub-consciously give up overspending.
Get busy with saving
You need to get busy in such a way that you don’t have time to think or do overspending. That’s the only way to come out of overspending mind-set.
When you don’t train your mind, it will be the master and you will be its slave. When you train your mind, you will be the master and the mind will be your slave.
When you train your mind to think about going up in savings, you will be a master of savings and not a slave of overspending.
Listen “Savings”
Try to listen more about savings. If you hear an advertisement in radio about savings pay more attention. You need to be with friends who are good at saving money and encourage them to talk about savings.
Ask them questions and listen with eager ears. Their experience with money can do wonders to your learning process.
Today, there are many podcasts on saving money that you can listen to while driving or doing household chores. The new ideas you get are one thing, but you also get subconsciously accustomed to the idea of it.
Listening about savings also helps you form thoughts about savings and develop it further.
Watch “savings”
Similarly, watch programs on savings. This will help you program your mind to save more.
Watched advertisements, that can make you overspend is the reason for your overspending mind-set. Now we are trying to reverse it by watching programs or advertisements on savings.
There are many YouTube videos and TV programs, like Life Hacks, that can help you save money.
For example: I once watched a TV program that showed how buying a car at the end of a year or a quarter can get you a better deal at the purchase price. It is because the dealer has to complete their quota for the year and they’re running out of time.
By any chance, if you are indeed planning to buy a car, read this article: 9 proven & Practical Steps To plan And Purchase Your Dream Car.
Read “ Savings”
And what you think is what you do!”
Read books and blogs about saving more, investing money, becoming rich and so on. This rewires your thought process and frees you out of the prison of overspending.
If you are completely new to savings and personal finance in general, the best place to start is here: “Get Rich or Get Busy Struggling; 5 Locks and Keys”.
It gives you very useful insights and a solid footing on savings and how to amp it up.
Experience “Savings”
In the past, you could have had some positive experience on savings. Your childhood experiences with a piggy bank, or your first deposit or your first SIP, etc.
Think more about these positive saving experience more and more. Also create similar positive experiences about savings at present.
Set small achievable goals and achieve them one at a time.This will help you create similar experience on savings in the future.
Although, saving a fixed amount is a start if you aren’t already saving regularly.
But if you do, you can ramp it up to the next level by finding out your investible surplus.
An investible surplus is the untapped investible money from your cash inflow that is leaking from your money bucket unnoticed.
So how can you do it?
Here is the Investible Surplus calculator that you can use: Download here!
Once you enter the cash inflow and expenses data, it will give you solid numbers that you can save/invest but haven’t been till now.
Doing this will break you out of your overspending pattern. Beyond this, your reasoning mind will compel you to save rather than spend, unless it is necessary.
So you have now replaced your old unwanted idea with a new one focused on savings. You have backed it up with hard evidence on how much you can save for your subconscious mind to reason with.
A great way to kick start a positive feedback pattern to keep you moving forward towards big things.
Input-Output Strategy
When you give positive inputs to your mind, it will also give you a positive output.
By giving positive inputs to your mind in the form of listening about savings, watching about savings, reading on savings, experiencing savings, your mind has no other choice except to give you a positive output by making you go up in your savings.
Have you tried anything to stop overspending before?
What ways have you tried in order to stop overspending?
How has it helped you?
Share your experience in the comment box below. You might help someone else and be a reason for a new journey in their life.
The Bottom Line
Don’t try to give up overspending. Try to go up in savings. When you try to go up in savings, you will go up in savings and giving up overspending will just be a by-product.
All the best to increasing your savings. Maybe treat yourself with some chocolates whenever you save more. You’ve earned it!
And if you think your hard-earned money has the right to get a professional’s care to invest and grow, reach out to us.
Register for your FREE 30 Minute Consultation with a Certified Professional below!
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