In theory, it sounds quite simple not to waste money on the go: you deprive yourself of all opportunities to access your account. At least that’s what an editor at the British “Daily Mail” did and ended up with a successful conclusion. Anyone who wants (or needs) to save a few hundred euros will find their approach a good guide that only requires one thing: consistency and clever advance planning.
She lists the following requirements as a “surefire way” to keep control of your spending: good advance planning and real willpower. Resisting the daily incentive to buy, both online and on the go, requires both. To prepare for this, she did the following: She took out all the credit and debit cards from her wallet, which in moments of weakness allow her to briefly hold the card up to a reader and spend money uncontrollably. However, the British woman excluded two categories: weekly grocery shopping and filling up her car. For her it was about the spontaneous “on-the-go moment” à la “I hold my card up to a device and completely lose track.”
Of course, she didn’t want to put herself at any life-threatening risk for her experiment. So she equipped her wallet with around ten euros in cash – in case of an emergency – and optimized her start: the car was full of gas and the refrigerator was full. The basis for self-sufficiency has been created.
She initially caught herself in her online purchasing behavior: In the middle of summer, she noticed that she was trying to equip herself online for the coming season. Who hasn’t experienced the reflex “Oh, it’s autumn, I need new boots and new clothes”? But she caught herself and saved the expense that would have made her experiment fail.
Then the next trap: a dinner date with a friend. But this time the girlfriend had to pay, phew! And instead of putting around six euros into the parking meter, she left a little earlier and found a free parking space around the corner. She also resisted the blue eyes of a three-year-old who would have liked to be treated to a comic book. She assured her that she would make it up to her shortly afterwards with homemade tarts, for which she had all the ingredients at home.
A friend’s birthday could also be celebrated with a bouquet of flowers that she picked herself from her own garden: what could a birthday child be happier about? The “savings researcher” avoided a weekend date with friends in a restaurant in exactly the same way: The picnic with food from her own fridge was much more fun than being entertained.
The experiment ends with the finding that almost 600 euros, which would otherwise have gone almost unnoticed, remained in the account. Quite worth imitating, right?
Those: “Daily Mail”
