She's On The Money - Five ways to stop impulse spending

Episode Date: November 9, 2021

Are you a bit impulsive when it comes to spending money? We've got you. Today we're dishing out our top tips on stopping impulse spending (and we have a bit of a rant about Afterpays decision to extend their offering to hospitality). G+V share with you their top tips and a few things that have worked for them! Are you a bit impulsive when it comes to spending money? We've got you. Today we're dishing out our top tips on stopping impulse spending (and we have a bit of a rant about Afterpays decision to extend their offering to hospitality). G+V share with you their top tips and a few things that have worked for them!The advice shared on She’s on The Money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances. She’s on The Money exists purely for educational purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or financial decision. Victoria Devine is an Authorised Representative of Australia Pacific Funds Management Proprietary Limited ABN 34 132 463 257 - AFSL 339151.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

She's on the money. She's on the money. Hello and welcome to She's on the money, the podcast for millennials who want financial freedom. Impulse spending, that sneaky little habit that's crept into your routine and even though you know it's sabotaging your larger financial goals, you still can't quite seem to quit it. Well, stress no more friends because today we're going to talk through our five foolproof ways to help you stop impulse spending once and for all. My name is Georgia King and joining me as always is Victoria Devine V. Georgia King. Hello, my girl. Hello. This chat

has come at a very interesting time. Two things to point out. Retail is back open for our Melbourne and Sydney listeners. Money win or not money win. That's just a life win. I'm just really excited about it being, yeah, a little bit more normal. Oh, a hundred percent. It feels normal already, don't you think? Have you been shopping yet? No. Neither have I. Okay. No, just the idea that I can is normal enough for me. Exactly. The other point though, V, that I wanted to touch on was Afterpay announcing that they will be infiltrating the hospitality sector. They will be. And I've been rather, what would you say, Georgia? Opinionated? Oh, both of those things on the internet this week about that. And I feel like it's for good reason. I feel like I've obviously

been quite skeptical of buy now, pay later for a long time. And I guess to preface this part of the chat, I don't think buy now, pay later is terrible. I think it's actually a very cool tool. Like when you write down exactly what it is, it's essentially a reverse lay by. And if you go, oh, V, I really wanted to pay for a holiday, or I really wanted to pay for this thing I really wanted. It kind of makes a lot of sense. And I guess that's the draw card to so many people because, you know, you don't have to pay interest. You can pay it off in installments so you don't get it up front. And I'm sure, actually not even I'm sure, George, I know for certain there are a lot of people in our community that use it as a really solid cashflow tool that is really productive

for their financial situations. And this week that has been brought up a number of times because of how vocal I've been on it, but I just feel like hospitality is one step too far. Like it is just, look, it is just a bit too much and a little bit predatory from me. So they're basically saying, V, that you can now like order your parma and pot and then pay later. That's the gist, yeah? It's like restaurants and bars and I don't know, clubs? I'm not sure. Yeah. And I know that this is a bit topical because obviously this is a luxury and if it's in line with your values and all of that other stuff. And, you know, Dave Ramsey, who's a very big financial guru in the US, I guess has been crucified historically for saying things like,

if you're in debt, you shouldn't be going out to eat at restaurants. And I don't believe in that. I don't subscribe to that at all. I think it's about, you know, actually paying off your debt, but living at the same time and having good balance in your life. But the idea that when you're in a compromised position, you've had a few too many bevraginos, George, and you're wanting to shout the girls a few espresso martinis, like that adds up. And I did the maths on my Instagram stories over the weekend. And it's just, it's honestly terrifying. And at the end of the day, what's an average espresso in the city, George? Like 20 bucks? Oh, girl. Oh, at least 20 bucks. At least. So if we did that and you've got four friends, which is four more than I have,

that's 80 bucks for a round of espresso martinis. And if you're in your early twenties, it wouldn't be, you know, a miss to say that you've done that four times in a month times that by every week of the year, that's an additional $4,160 that you're, you know, tapping in a way that maybe you wouldn't have if you'd just taken out your debit card. Cause in the back of your mind, you knew maybe there's only 50 bucks on there and you're not going to do the round of espresso martinis. So I'm not saying that that's what it is. I just feel like this is a step too far. And it's just, it's a lot, George. I feel like you're being quite generous to the buy now, pay later providers, because remember before we jumped on the mics, you were telling me about.

Oh, how much debt there was. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that's, look, it is, I think I'm being a little bit more reserved on this because I just don't want people to think that I think that they're awful. And I, do you know what summary I do, but I don't want you guys to think that I just don't have this ability to see the flip side of the argument. Whereas I genuinely believe I can sit on both sides of that and go, no, I can see it's really, really good. But on the flip side, I can see how predatory it is and how bad it is. And any business that markets to you, Georgia, and says oh don't stress now is taking advantage of future you exactly like they are absolutely taking advantage of future you and to say don't worry about it or don't worry about drinks like

that's that's crazy talk like to me it just seems like they're making it sound like oh no you deserve it and I get it you do like it's not about that it's more about yeah there's another one that's come out as well George it's called payo and I probably shouldn't be naming names but I feel like it's just one of those things that you know we should be talking about this and if they're putting themselves out there in exactly the same way we do you know people should be able to talk about this openly and honestly but someone commented on one of their posts and said why do we need to pay for food later as well now like kind of laughing as a joke and this company replied hi there payos for those days where you feel like going for another cocktail but not having to worry

about the bill like should we not be worrying about the bill yeah like we are it just feels like that's misleading and we've seen it with after pay before it was like that advertising georgia they came out with a while ago that you i think you pointed it out or someone in the facebook group posted it and it said broke af but strongly support treating yourself and i was like that is not good but i feel like that wasn't the one that you posted in our group chat was it no it wasn't firstly i hate them using the young people's language broke af don't touch it that's that's rude georgia says it's rude so you should stop it's just oh i i'm not an afterpay fan as you might be able to tell but the billboard that i saw v said stop paying money to use money what

no you're using your own money and it's a slippery slope that you could easily trip down and find yourself owing more money. And an interesting statistic, Georgia, that I looked up because I was like, no, I'm going to look into this and actually read their annual report. Last year, they made a $68.8 million, Georgia, on late fees alone. Like that wasn't their profit. That was just on late fees. So if people are like, oh my gosh, I'm so good at it. Congratulations. Genuinely, I'm so proud of you. And as I've said before, it is a great tool in theory, and it is a great tool for people who are able to control themselves and have really good self-discipline, but that's not actually the majority. And a lot of people who have problems with impulsiveness or,

you know, we had that whole episode, Georgia, on neurodivergence and how that can impact your spending and how, you know, even being on the autism spectrum can do it. Like these people are at more risk because of tools like this. And for it to be even more accessible, it just, it sits really incorrectly with me, I suppose. Well, they're also just preying on the like instant gratification culture that we've created, right? Like this just, can you imagine our parents getting involved with this? They'd be like, no, save first and then go out for the fancy chicken parmigiana. You know what I mean? Like this is very much looking at our generation and targeting our generation, which is not cool. Yeah. And I just feel like it's one of those

things where, you know, you and I talk about it and I would really like to acknowledge our privilege here because, you know, we're using examples like a Palmer, like that to me is a luxury. Like I don't, I don't really eat Palmers, but it is an absolute luxury at the end of the day. Like you and I are looking at this and going, okay, hospitality, this means going out for dinner. That's a luxury thing. So kind of makes sense. But the reality is there are actually a lot of people that aren't able to put food on the table at the moment. And I'm not, I guess, criticizing them if they go and use this for that reason. But I would assume that that type of person or somebody who's in the situation where you unfortunately just can't feed your family

that week. Like I'm not saying I get it because I've never been in that situation, but if you're going to put groceries on after pay, because that's how you're putting food on the table this week, go do it. Please never feel bad about that situation. But that doesn't mean, okay, I can't put food on the table. I'm going to go and, you know, take my kids out for dinner at a five-star restaurant and, you know, get a few cocktails and live my best life because it's future me's problem. Like that's what I'm talking about here. I'm not talking about people who can't afford food. And there's obviously a really big issue surrounding that at the moment. And George will probably get into that in another podcast in the nearish future especially with Christmas coming up

but I just think that this is such a slippery slope like where does it stop like this is just enabling people who are into gambling who are into alcohol to make different decisions and I think it would be a miss of me to say like if I've had a few champagnes like if I was hypothetically you know, celebrating my engagement that maybe, or maybe didn't happen recently. No, but like I am more likely to make bad financial decisions. And that's why I'm such an advocate of a really solid budget cashflow plan so that you can't muck up and you can't go into a whole heap of debt and you don't, you know, dip into your savings. And then the next day wake up feeling a little bit dusty, but also a bit upset with yourself because you've compromised your future financial goals.

I am such an advocate of really good systems. And somehow if Afterpay or any buy now, pay later system works for you, fantastic. But that from my perspective is absolutely not the majority. And as Glenn James would say, if you've budgeted for it, why did you need to put it on Afterpay? Because you already would have had the money in your account, wouldn't you? Exactly. Exactly right, PKD. Oh yeah. It just feels like a really slippery slope and I just don't want people to start normalizing these things and it is becoming so normal, right? Like Afterpay is everywhere. Like it's in our supermarkets. It's literally out for dinner. It's following us everywhere, Georgia. I

know that on ZipPay, you can actually add that to your Apple wallet. So you can just tap on ZipPay and go. And it just, it feels crazy. My only question then V would be like, what about when people say, yeah, but like people just put their food on credit cards anyway. Like what's the difference there? Ah, yes. And I touched on this online this week as well. And I feel like you're right. You could just put it on credit. Do I support you doing that if you're already in debt? Absolutely not. I don't think you should be putting cocktails on credit at all for any reason. But I think the important thing to really understand here is that credit cards and afterpay are really different. The accessibility of these two things are very different. A credit

card is regulated here in Australia. If Georgia, you woke up tomorrow morning, you said, you know what? I want a credit card. You have to go apply for that. You have to go and submit an application and they'll say, gee, so nice. How long have you worked for She's On The Money? How much money do you earn? What do you do? You know, what does your cashflow look like? And then they might go, all right, gee, we reckon we'll give you a thousand dollar credit card. Or hey, gee, you know, it might be a bougie credit card. We can offer you a $15,000 maximum. And that decision has been made based on your credit score and based on whether you have existing debt. And I can bet my bottom dollar that if you were up to your eyeballs in debt, especially after this Royal

Commission and you went for another credit card, they'd be like, oh, gee, no decline. You'd be like, oh, that sucks. I can't access that. Buy Now, Pay Later doesn't have any of that regulation. In fact, here in Australia, it is not regulated in the same way that a credit card is. And that is something that I would love to change. I think that, you know, as I've said before, I believe that Buy Now Pay Later does work for some people. Let's regulate it. Let's make sure that only the right people that aren't going to get into significant debt or that aren't already in significant debt can not use that service and that we are actually putting our community in a better position. Because unfortunately, if we look at the stats and, you know, going back to that statistic

that I gave you before, $68.8 million in late fees, Georgia. We've got a lot of educating to do to get people to use these products correctly. And until then, these companies are going to benefit significantly. And how do we know that that person who maxed out all four of the credit cards they got approved for found themselves denied for the next credit card and turned to afterpay and then zip pay and then all the other pays because they're not regulated. Like, it feels gross, Georgia, and it just feels like we are not doing the right thing by our community or putting them in the best possible position, which, you know, I've kind of made our mission, George. Yeah, for sure. I wonder when they will introduce those regulations.

I have no idea. And there are a lot of people advocating for this, and I would love to get behind it, you know, foot and tail and whatever else you say, because I just think that it's in the best interest of our community to have these things regulated. And I'm not saying, you know, if you're listening along and you're like, do you know what V, I'm really responsible. Congrats. Like I'm genuinely really proud. And I hope that, you know, I hope George and I have been a part of that journey to you being really financially stable and making good decisions and maybe using Afterpay correctly. But unfortunately it's just not the case for most of our community. And you've got to remember georgia most of our community are millennials and gen x and you know even younger

now which is terrifying but we're in this position where we are the younger generation and we're the people that you know are getting crucified for not being able to buy houses because we spent all our money on smashed avocado where that generation that was crucifying us has now created products that put us in a situation where we can now get in debt for a smashed avocado yeah it just doesn't feel right not not happy about it I think just save your money and then buy the things you know that's the old-fashioned way of doing it solid advice from you there George just save your money I really like it you know it's it's simpler there's less temptation look there is less temptation but I feel like there are probably enough minutes left in this podcast for us to

actually talk about how we can minimize impulse spending and therefore save some money with some actual tips. Correctamundo, my girl. Okay. So back to impulse spending, the topic of today's show, not throwing afterpay under a bus, which we're doing too. So why do we love impulse spending so much? Oh, dopamine. It gives us the biggest hit of dopamine. It's all based on our emotions. It can often have a lot to do with our money stories, as we've discussed on the podcast before and the environment we put ourselves in, but also the environment we grew up in. And maybe our parents were impulse spenders. I can, oh, I don't know. I'm probably taking a bit of a stab in the dark here, George. Your parents are probably really good little savers as well. And the apple doesn't

ever fall that far from the tree more often than not. So if your parents were impulse spenders, you're more likely to probably spend your money pretty spontaneously. And if they were savers, you're very likely to be a pretty good saver because we were taught that and we became comfortable with that. And as a human, we just like what's comfortable to us. And that's usually what we are most consistent with. So another reason why people tend to impulse shop is because of their emotional state. And I've been guilty of this so many times. If I've had a bit of a week or if I'm not feeling incredible, I'm like, I don't know what I deserve any dress or I'm just going to go to Chadston. I'm just going to go have a look. I'll just get myself out of the house.

And you might be seeking distraction or a little bit of joy. And as I said, dopamine plays into this and that's you seeking that. We've talked on the pod before about, you know, things that could replace dopamine. But the most important thing about understanding impulsive spending is understanding why you personally impulsively spend. Because I might do it because I'm feeling a bit flat after a really big week of work. And Georgia, you might do it for a completely different way on a completely different thing that I'd be like, oh, I'd never spend money on that because I'm just not as cool as Georgia King, like Nag Narda. Oh no, I'm just not cool enough, you know? So I just think that it's really important to understand that your story is

your story alone, not somebody else's. And even though impulse spending in your head might sound like bags and shoes and, you know, going impulse spending and, you know, coming home with a million shopping bags, it can also be additional spending while you're at the service station and you just feel the need to pick up chocolate bars or you feel the need to grab an ice cream or some chips because, you know, maybe that wasn't something you had as a kid. Maybe that's you making yourself feel good about something. So sit down and go, when do I feel like I impulsively need to spend money that I hadn't intended on spending? So it's not like the big shopping spree that you've been saving up for. That's not impulsive spending. Impulsive spending is spending that you just

feel a little bit like you can't control. Like when you see Frodo frogs on sale and you're like, oh, get that in my cart. Like why? True. I mean, Freddo frogs are a good acquisition. I feel they're a good buy. Although they're not nearly as big as they used to be. Like I haven't eaten a Freddo frog in years, but do you remember those caramelly koalas you get at fundraisers, Georgia? And they were huge. And I remember the kids at school would bring the boxes in and there'd be like a dollar per gigantor caramelly koala. They do not exist anymore. It's, it's horrible. They're tiny. It's horrendous. I think we've spoken about that on the pod before, peers. Have we? Maybe. It's because we're really heated about this and I'm still pressed. Bring

them back. V, I feel like marketing probably plays into why we impulse spend as well. True? False? Yeah, absolutely. Well, why do people spend so much money on marketing if not to get people to spend money on their product? Adds up, yeah. But brands are going to spend money on marketing, Georgia, because they want us to buy their product. So they're going to make it as attractive as possible because otherwise why would you spend any money on marketing at all like i mean there's legitimate roles for people to create these marketing campaigns to sell more of x y and z and i was watching a little while ago because a few weeks ago it was a few weeks probably a few months now because they all roll into one do you remember when jess recommended

mcmillian's as a documentary that we should all watch oh yeah rings a bell yeah so mcmillian's is the story of McDonald's, but the story of the McDonald's monopoly. So, you know how that game existed for a really long time and the scam behind that. But while I was watching that, I learned a lot about why they do that. And it's not just because it's fun. It literally more than doubles their sales every single time they do monopoly, which is why they continue to do it because their sales double. It's flawless for them. So, if you're like, oh my gosh, like that makes sense. That's marketing. That's them getting you to spend more money. And that's the aim of business, right? We need to convince people to separate from their money. And you know

what? Marketing geniuses are pretty good at that. That's why they're called marketing geniuses. Precisely. I feel like sales as well are really, they suck you into an impulse spend. They absolutely do. So, you know, I think my favorite word of the week or word of the month this slippery slope. Like it definitely is when it comes to spending. And that's why we want to create a really solid foundation for ourselves so that we understand our budget and we understand our cashflow and create these solid bricks so that we don't end up on a slope. We're actually standing on solid ground. And whenever we're making a decision, we go, okay, is this in the budget? Yes. No. Why am I doing this? I understand it because you've got all those foundational

skills below you so that you're not, you know, tipped over when something, you know, pops up in a shiny and bright. Instead you go, oh, they're sneaky instead of here, take my money. Yeah. Interesting. When I was reading for today's episode V, I found this thing that kept on coming up and it was that milk is always at the back of the supermarket, which I've never thought about, but how many of us go to the supermarket purely for milk and bread, but we have to go, It is always at the back. We have to go right to the back so that we're tempted to put all the other little bits and pieces in our trolley instead of just grabbing the milk and going.

How smart is that? I hadn't even thought about the milk idea, but I did know that's why they put the lollies at checkout. Yeah. There's always like Kit Kats or lollies and they're never the ones on sale. No. So true. Smart cookies.

I feel like that's the only place in the supermarket that I ever see a Kinder Surprise. I'm convinced. Speaking of brilliant chocolates. V, let's move on here. As we said before, impulse spending can be really tied to our money stories, but is it something that we can unlearn or are we stuck being impulse spenders forever? Oh, absolutely. Okay. Okay. Good. No, old dogs can learn new tricks. In fact, old dogs are arguably always the cutest dogs. So like there's no such thing as too late. And as I said before, I wasn't trying to be like, oh my gosh, Georgia, you're so much like your

parents, but the apple never falls far from the tree when it comes to our base behaviors. And impulse spending is going to come into that because it's what makes us feel comfortable. It's what makes us feel maybe a little bit more protected. It's something that we do for ourselves to boost our dopamine levels that makes us feel like we are better or that we are, you know, not as worse off as we actually are. So if you have a behavior, whether it is a spending behavior or maybe you smoke or maybe you drink too much or maybe you just don't want to bite your nails anymore like any habit can be reformed but the important thing is really identifying what that is really identifying what those triggers are so if you're biting your nails because you're

stressed work out what you're stressed about and the same goes for spending just because it involves money doesn't mean it should be looked at than any other habit changes and there are millions of ways to change habits. Like if you Google habit changing, there will be all these plans to change a habit in 30 days or change a habit in 21 days. And you know, oh, six ways to stop doing this. But I could sit here and give you a million tips and be like, okay, here's our top five tips to save money, or here's our top five tips to stop impulse purchasing. But the biggest tip, Georgia, would be understanding yourself and your money story and scrolling all the way back in your podcast app to our very first episode on money stories. And I feel like we're probably due for

an updated money stories episode, Georgia. It was a couple of years ago. Yeah. That's crazy to think. Do you know we've done nearly more than 200 episodes? Gee whiz. Insane. Those numbers are crazy. But it's one of those things where if you really understand yourself and you understand what triggers you and what sets you on fire, like what makes you happy, you're going to be able to identify what those things are and stop them and it doesn't mean you can't pick up the extra chocolate bar at the servo if that's what you know makes you really excited and that's your like pick me up for the week that's not what we're talking about here what

we're talking about is impulse spending that is impacting your savings and your investing and your future goals and you don't actually want to be doing and often there's an external trigger for that. It might be stress. It might be feeling lonely. It might be boredom. A lot of people are really bored and they jump online. How many packages did we all get during COVID? Too many. Like during lockdown every night, I'd sit on the couch with my partner. It'd be Friday night and I'd be like, this is wild. And I'd often be watching Netflix and just flicking through the Iconic or flicking through the Shopbop app. It didn't matter what I was up to. It was just

something to keep my mind entertained. And you can do some pretty good convincing on yourself after a glass of wine on the couch on a Friday night with it. A dress is really cute and you definitely need it when you go back to work, Georgia. Don't I know it. Don't I know it. But it's true. And I think that that's where, you know, we could get caught up in the really fluffy stuff, but deeply understanding yourself and how you work and maybe the dynamics of your relationships with not only your partner, but your friends and your family, and even yourself, like where do you impulse spend the most? Like what makes you do that? What types of stress is doing that? Are you impulse spending because you just had a really long week at work and you're

just like, I'm just going to blow all this off by heading to the shops. Or are you impulse spending because you're anxious or self-conscious and you have a baby shower coming up and you just don't know what to wear so you go shopping you buy a few different options and that's what's making you feel a little bit more confident like we need to decipher exactly what that is because it's not the same thing for everybody yeah for sure kind of on the flip side of this fee why why are other people so good at resisting an impulse spend like why how are some people so disciplined personality types whether you're intrinsically or extrinsically motivated whether you're super type A and really like structure. It's completely different. As you guys know,

I'm a pretty impulsive person myself. So I've had to implement this really rigid structure when it comes to my budget and cashflow, because sometimes I just really want something and I'm not this perfect financial person that you guys look at and go, oh my gosh, I wish I could budget and save like her. I've gotten to that point because I've taught myself to get to that point, but I got myself in some pretty good personal debt and I had a credit card for a while and, you know, it wasn't positive for me. And that's why if we go back to the conversation we had at the top of this podcast, Georgia, about afterpay, I guess it's why I'm so passionate about that as well, because I know if you'd said to 21 year old Victoria, here's afterpay,

I'd be in thousands of dollars worth of debt with afterpay for sure, guaranteed. Like there wouldn't have been any way that wouldn't have happened. Like I was just not that educated when it came to finances. I was really impulsive and you know what? I kind of wanted to keep up with the Joneses always. Yeah. Well, interestingly, that kind of leads to our first tip for today. I feel like we should get into them. We absolutely should. So our first tip to stop impulse spending is, of course, to limit our time on social media. So, a little bit of StatGirl for you. Oh, StatGirl's been away for a while. She's back. I know. So, ING did some research in 2019, which found that over a third of Aussie social shoppers are more likely to impulse buy due to

social media and admit that they would spend less if they didn't see things they wanted in their feeds. So V, why do the socials play such a big role here? And how can we like practically limit the impact that it has on us? Because we can't just say quit. No one's going to do that. You do though. I'm still on there. I think that you're really good at that because I think you've really identified what makes you happy and what sparks your joy and what doesn't. And I know ages ago you went through and just unfollowed everything that you thought was, you know, maybe not sparking the joy that it should. And I'm really bad at that. I just follow a lot of things that maybe I shouldn't and that, you know, do make me feel like, oh, I want that. And I think

that there's a lot of peer pressure and societal pressure. And you know what? Exposure comes into it. It's like when you see a really ugly pair of shoes, Georgia, like the amount of times I've seen an influencer wear what I would describe as a heinous pair of shoes. I'm like, oh my God, that ain't it. Whatever that is, ain't it. Then you start to see them everywhere. And then you start to like them. And then your favorite influencer wears them. And then they're not so bad, George. Then Tony Vanko comes out with a copy of them and you're like, oh, they're more reasonable. They're more affordable. Maybe I do like them. And then your friend has them at dinner one night and then they're in your wardrobe because you decided that you loved them

so much, but you didn't really like them when you first saw them. And I feel like that's more common than you think it is. It happens to me, not that I'm speaking from experience with that example, but it's one of those things where it's all about societal pressure and social norms and, you know, feeling like you do need to keep up with the Joneses. And in a way we've been exposed to this world online where it seems weird to wear the same thing twice. Like I've even caught myself in that moment where I'm like, Oh, I'd love to upload that photo. There's already pictures of me in that dress on my feed. I hope people don't think it's the same event. I'm like, that's so silly. If I feel good in that dress, why am I not wearing it a million

times? Isn't that why I bought the dress? So I think we really need to just have a think about why we're doing things and what that actually means because Instagram isn't reality. It's people's highlight reels. And I think that now more than ever, especially coming out of COVID where, you know, I think it was kind of limited because we didn't have the ability to go out and go shopping and share a lot of what people were buying or doing. Now we're making up for it. We're going to feel like we also need to be, quote, making up for our lost time, especially during COVID. And yeah, I think that taking a bit of a break from social media is not the worst thing, but I don't think deleting it and just going cold turkey is the best thing. I think just

muting people that you follow, that you know, every time you see them, you want to buy something, you don't have to unfollow them. Mute on Instagram is a beautiful feature. Don't be afraid to mute a friend. I've done it. Oh, is that why you didn't know about my Instagram post the other day? Okay, Jordan, no problem. No, I just wasn't online. Oh, is that what you tell them?

No, but muting seriously is very, very helpful because then you just don't see. You don't see all of the junk, but then no one gets offended that you don't follow them. Exactly. And we all know how it feels to find that a friend has unfollowed us. Like that cuts deep. don't do that unless you actually don't want to be their friend anymore. Yeah. Yeah. Don't go too savage on it. All right. So basically our tip there is just to mute and unfollow. Yeah. Solid tip. But at the same time, I think understand what it is. Yes. Restricting time on Instagram

is a blessing. And did you know on iPhone, you can do it. So Georgia, look at my screen. Yeah, I can see it. Yep. Time. What does it say? Time limit with a little, little sand hourglass. Yeah. it says you've reached your time limit on TikTok for today and you can press okay and it exits or you can press ignore and it will offer you one more minute or another 15 minutes. And this has been something that has been so good for my mental health recently. You can just do it through your settings. I think it's through, it's not, is it accessibility? I think it might be accessibility or security or something. We'll put directions on the Instagram story today so that you guys can do it. But limiting my exposure to social media and really being aware of how much time I'm spending

on it has been really powerful. I didn't realize how much time I was spending on it. And I then looked at, you know, how an iPhone gives you those triggers and says, oh, you've done this much screen time this week. And you're like, oh, I think I'm going to be sick. There's no way I spent that long. So I limited myself and this still feels like a lot, Georgia. But is this bad? I limited myself to one hour of Instagram and one hour of TikTok. Oh no, that's good. That's fine. But a day. No, but a whole day. Like the idea, and obviously my screen time was significantly more than that. But the idea that I sit every day for one hour on TikTok blows my mind. I guess. Yeah, that is kind of. Blows my mind. But like, you know, you're doing things, you're walking,

you're on the toot, you're driving. Kidding. You're not driving. Yeah. But no, but you know. Yeah. I'm not driving. Okay. Georgia, that is not what we are doing, but it's one of those things that you just go, actually an hour is a really long time. Like I wouldn't go and just sit on the couch with absolutely no form of stimulation for one hour. I couldn't do it. It's not something I would, but that hour would go so slow if that's the way I was doing it. But in our everyday life, it just flies by and you just don't realize it. And then my phone gives me a notification. It says, you've got five minutes of TikTok time left for today. And I'm always like, oh, okay, I get off then. And, you know, it does add up, especially over a day and

an hour is a long period of time. So I think that even if you're not limiting yourself and you're being a little bit cheeky, like I have been a lot of the time, I just hit that extra 15 minutes, extra 15 minutes, please. Yes. But it's one of those things where I'm like, gosh, I'm doing this a lot. So I do like having that reminder, especially on TikTok to be like, you've been doing this for a while. Are you sure you want to keep doing this? And I can be like, you're right. I don't. Yeah. Yeah. V, our second tip is a she's on the money classic, if I do say so myself. And it is, of course, to put time between ourselves and our purchases. Oh, yes. Put 24 hours at a minimum between you and your spending. And I feel like this is a good tip because we're not

completely depriving ourselves of that purchase. We're just saying, my friend, let's just put it down. If you want it tomorrow, you can have it tomorrow. And more often than not, you're going to not pick that back up or forget about it. Or you'll add it to your cart and be like, oh, but I really want it. Okay. All right, Georgia, you can. I know Nagnard is really expensive. Put it in your cart, put it online, walk away. 24 hours, come back. If you still want to spend that money as desperately as you did, go for it. But I guarantee most of the time you won't want to do that. And if you can put more time in between that purchase than a day, that's the minimum then do that can it wait a week can it wait a month if you really want that

nagnata jumper george can you wait until it goes on sale can you just have a look can you put it on your on your watch list is that an option do you actually need it have you gone through your wardrobe to check if it's necessary is it actually a purchase that you want to make or is it a purchase that you're just making because it's cute and it would look nice in your wardrobe but maybe you have another financial goal that you want to achieve so that kind of gives you more time to actually think through it rather than just acting on impulse being like I want it now like it yeah and it really takes the emotion out of the spending right good jinx Georgia but it does take the emotion out of it and we're not saying that you can't have it you just can't

have it yet yeah and I think that that will make you feel a little bit more comfortable with not doing it but at the same time make sure that you're really thinking about a decision because they all add up how many times have you seen a $40 top and been like it's only 40 bucks yeah uh quite that's a lot of money yeah do that twice a week and you're really close to four grand a year in spending same as the espresso martinis exactly um v i think that is the perfect place to end the first half of today's episode but on the other side we are going to talk through our final strategies to stop impulse spending uh so please don't go anywhere guys i won't i'll be right back after this yeah cool same straight back into it v with our third tip to stop impulse

spending. So, this one is to actually make room in our budget for indulgent spends and to give ourselves permission to buy things from time to time. I love this rule. How does this help us? Talk me through. Yes. Yes. Genius. Right. It's a rule because it stops you binge spending. It stops you from restricting yourself time and time again, and then throwing your budget completely out the window and just going wild. And we all know that can happen, but also having guilt about spending is a really big thing. Like feeling bad about spending because you're like, no, Victoria said I need a budget and cashflow plan and I've done this and I need to stick to it because they're the rules. Like, yes, but in your budget, there should be luxuries. There

should be things that make you feel alive. There should be things that make your heart sing. There should be things that are, you know, gifted to other people. There should be charities. There should be lots of other things. If it's, you know, within your financial capabilities, obviously, we're not saying that everybody has to do everything, but if you can find some space in your budget to actually be logical and reasonable, you're going to stick to it. If I said to you, Georgia, like, okay, you're going on a really restrictive budget because we're saving for a house for you. You're not allowed to spend, you're not allowed to go out. you're not allowed to do any of the things that you love, that would become really bland,

really dry, really boring, really quick. And you're very likely to not stick to it consistently. Because it's not sustainable. Yeah, it's not sustainable. Whereas if we said, Georgia, let's just be real about this. Let's look at your budget for the last 12 months. What have you spent? How often do you go out with your friends? How much money do you spend each month on, you know, a couple of ciders to have in the park. Let's be honest with our spending because a budget should not be restrictive. It actually should be reflective. It should be reflective of your genuine spending. It shouldn't be a tool that you sit down and go, oh my gosh, I did my budget. I'm so naughty. I spend X, Y, and

Z. It should be, okay, how good is this? I have a very clear visual of what my spending looks like. That gives me the ability to have a conversation with myself about whether that's in line with my goals and values. And you might go, yeah, you know what? The last month was sick. I did a really good month. I had, you know, a nice balance with my friends and my family. And I also saved a bit that that's who I want to be. Or you might go, oh my gosh, I saved a literally nothing. I cannot believe it. Like, I don't know how I went wrong here. It's not about crucifying yourself. It's about creating a plan that works for you. And I think that so many of us stick our heads in the sand about budgets because we go, yuck, I don't want to go on a diet because a budget is often

seen as the diet of the finance world. And that is not it. It is a lifestyle change. We are the noom of the budgeting and finance world. What's noom? I don't know. It's like this. I don't actually know what it does, but I've heard it's the more sustainable dieting option. Let's move on from that. Probably terrible analogy. Oh, I thought it was one of those beanbag things. Anyway. All right. They are fun. Okay. Fourth tip here, V, is to implement spending strategies is like using cash for a month, for example, I did do this. Do you remember? Oh, you did that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, I must've said it on the potty, but it was effective, but I don't really trust myself with cash because I feel like I would just lose it because, uh, you know, I do lose my

wallet. Um, it can be silly. Uh, so what do you, what do you think? I just feel like I haven't had cash in my hands for a very, very long time. It is not something like, I just can't think of something that I would need cash for nowadays, especially after COVID. Like I just go to the supermarket, I come home, I go out, I tap my card for takeaway, I come home. It's not very exciting, but that's a really good method of doing it. Any method that helps you put structure in place is a good method. I obviously have my budget and cashflow masterclass, which I think is a really positive place to be. It's a really good structure that makes a lot of sense. And I know thousands of people have now done that. That's so cool, Georgia. Thousands of people have done our masterclass.

So cool, Georgia. But it's one of those things that I know that works, but it might not work for you. You might not want a spreadsheet. You might actually want someone to help you get cash out, put it in different envelopes, and that's what you've got to spend. And that will work for you. I've got clients who have gotten out of debt that way. And that makes sense because it works for them. This is not about what works for everybody. It's about what works for you. And tracking your spending is going to be a really good way of learning a lot about yourself. And if you don't want to take a hundred bucks out and, you know, have that in cash, maybe you just transfer a hundred dollars to your debit card and you don't transfer any more that week. And you

just really keep track of what you're spending then and there and see how far you can stretch that. So I don't think it's necessarily about, you know, there's a right way and a wrong way because there isn't. It's about finding a way that works for you and just giving yourself access to something that works and puts you in the best position. Yeah, for sure. I guess, yeah, what I loved about the cash thing was just that you only had that to spend, so you couldn't be tempted to then go and use your card. So yeah, whatever works for you. I like that one. Yeah. And I've also got a friend actually, who does a no spend week every single month of the year. No spend week yeah a no spend week not month like it's just one week and that feels more palatable but

Georgia that adds up to 12 weeks in the entire year that she's not spending anything beyond obviously her you know absolutely must have essential spending and that's kind of cool that's very cool like maintenance for her budget she's always like oh I pick a week and then that's my week you know she's got events that week might change she blocks it out in her calendar just as like a, I'm busy this week kind of thing. Not so she doesn't do anything during that time, but just so she knows it's coming up. And I just think that's a really cool way of doing it and maybe managing it on a smaller scale. Because earlier this year, G, a couple of us from the team, we did that no spend month and oh my gosh, that was so hard. And I think that a week, I could

do a week. I could do a week a month. That could be a really good way of maintaining our budget. Yeah. Maybe we should get a little crew together for the next 12 months and see if we can all commit. I like that. Anyway, because yeah, I'm getting ahead of myself. Then it adds up to three months in total for the year that you haven't spent. Like it's, that's 12 weeks. That's an entire semester of university. Like that's a lot of time. You could learn a lot of stuff or save a lot of money, George. Exactly right. Love that. Okay. V, let's head into our fifth and final tip for the day, which is to think about our purchases in different ways. So the first way is to consider cost per wear. And the second thing I have here is thinking about how many hours of

work it will actually take you to pay your desired item off. It's good, isn't it? Yeah. That one's a really powerful one. Like calculate what your hourly rate is, even if you have a full-time job and you're like, okay, I've calculated. It's like $25 or $26 an hour. Are you willing to part with three hours of work for that top Georgia King? Maybe you're not, or maybe you're like, that is so worth it. I'll work overtime. Like that could be something that's really valuable to you, but really contextualizing things proves to be a rather effective method in helping you see that money means a lot more than just trading it for goods and services. Mm-hmm. And the kind of like, yeah, it brings that mindfulness, right? That stops you in your

tracks. Yeah. And I think the cost per wear as you bring it up is really important. Like how often am I actually going to wear this? Like a cost per wear on a dress that you're going to wear to a friend's birthday party might be $300 because the dress was $300. Yeah. But if you're like, oh, actually I could wear this to my friend's birthday. And then also I could wear this to work and I actually really love this dress and I'm probably going to wear it or something that I do and have I think I only really talked about this in the first season but I have recently re-implemented this because the plan is as of 2022 I will hopefully be back in the office baby steps but I've been really thinking about it because I get excited about fashion

but it's reformulating my capsule wardrobe and I will only add something to my wardrobe if it goes with a minimum of five pieces so if it's a top it needs to go with five bottoms if it's a dress you know I need to have five different ways that I could potentially style it if it's a bottom yeah it needs to go with five tops so for me that has meant that I have a very specific color palette because obviously you know things go together and I think it's absolutely no secret that that's probably white baby pink and maybe george but it's one of those things that's really helped me because even if I love it and I'm in the shop and I did this recently online and I was on Q's website and I was like oh that top is so cool and then I was like I'm never gonna wear it yeah I'm

never gonna wear it I might wear it once because I know that it's cute but it would take a lot for me to actually style that piece because it was a little bit outside of the scope of my usual style and I'm not saying don't change your style but I would have had to significantly change the way I was dressing and maybe the shoes I had weren't perfect for it. So we'd need to just have a good think about whether it's actually a good purchase or we're just a romanticizing that purchase because it just would make us feel really good. Oh, exactly. And like everything looks good on the models, you know? Oh my gosh, does it ever. And COVID's really, really highlighted that for me. All right, V. I think we're done here, George. I think we are. Special mentions, of course,

to unsubscribing from marketing emails, writing lists before you head. Not the she's on the money email. That's like hardly ever marketing. It's usually George's random ramblings and recommendations of Michael Bublé and Frozen Prawns. They are. They're getting weirder by the day, but that's okay. I love them. Did we forget anything else? Budgeting? I don't believe so. I think impulse spending is something that we've all been guilty of at some point. And the best way to actually curb impulse spending is really understanding

ourselves and what triggers that for us and what makes us feel like we want to impulse spend. So I know for me, it's feeling really flat. It's having a bad week at work or, you know, something not going my way and, you know, feeling a bit bleh about it. And then I'll go shopping because that'll make me feel a bit better. And I don't do that nearly as much as I used to, but I do sometimes say to a couple of girlfriends, I'd love to go shopping this weekend because I know i've had a bit of a yeah wait yeah whereas other people might be doing that to celebrate like you might have had a really great week at work and you deserve a new xyz so i think that we really need do you know what georgia we don't just need to we owe it to ourselves to understand

ourselves deeply enough to know what our triggers are in every point of life i think that's the perfect place to leave it v all right well as always just before we head off we'd like to acknowledge and pay respect to australia's aboriginal and torres strait islander peoples they're the traditional custodians of the lands the waterways and the skies all across australia we thank you for sharing and for caring for the land on which we are able to learn we pay respects to elders past and present and we share our friendship and our kindness and remember guys that the advice shared on cheese on the money is general in nature and does not consider your individual circumstances cheese on the money exists purely for educational

purposes and should not be relied upon to make an investment or a financial decision and we promise victoria divine is an authorized representative of australia pacific funds management proprietary limited abn 34132463257afsl339151 we'll see you on friday Thanks for watching!