Ideally , if your spending habits are not a way to cope with something else, you want to learn to budget. There are different methods of budgeting so you may want to try a couple of them until one clicks. If you dont know how to Excel, you could try YNAB or similar as a starting point. Its more or less a spreadsheet hidden behind a graphical interface based on a method of budgeting where , at the start of each month, you allocate every penny you earn to something.
On the other hand, if you buy things as a way of coping, money management is much harder in my opinion because your brain is going to rationalize and trick you into spending just like with any other addiction.
Anyway, two that I can think of that sort of worked, a long term commitment and a quck fix :
- The long term commitment is trying to balance the amount of time you spend consuming ( passsive ) vs producing ( active ). If you are bored, depressed, lonely, etc, money management is to some extent attention management imo. YOu want to find a hobby, education, lifestyle change, etc to take. Doesnt matter if you go on a buying spree when you first commit to it ( lets say writing or gardening ). Its usually going to be worth it from a spending point of view by the end of the year and as time goes by the spending per hour decreases drastically. It only works if you dont take flying classes or any other expensive hobby.
- The quick fix is keeping the items for a couple of days in the shopping cart before hitting the buy button . Its slows the process of buying and bring the tricks your playing to yourself and merchants are palying on you to the surface. You are going to get upset about loosing that deal or not buying that thing that is no longer in stock a day after just to find a week later that you could not care less. When you go through the motions dozens of times, just like with any other learning, the fallacy of all starts to sink even if you are not paying too much attention. It also works ( I think ) because it lets the process of buying be only until the very end when it hijacks it. So you are not deprived completely of the distraction, dopamine, etc of buying and property.
