How to stop impulse spending

Sometimes the things people say are easy, are anything but.

A bit like meal prepping on Sunday, cleaning the sink, or cutting down on your TikTok hours, ‘just’ cutting down on impulse spending can actually feel super hard. Some of us have lifelong overspending habits, mental health stuff that gets in the way, or just plain struggle with saving.

Let’s stop pretending that saving money is simple all the time. But there are some little things you can do, that can start moving your spending and saving dial closer to chill.

In this blog:

• Don’t actually stop!
• Picking one big wish and keeping the rest close
• Locking some Savers
• Replacing that happiness hit
• Hiding money!
• Getting in touch with your mental health, and
• Recruiting your mates for shared success.

1. Step one. Don’t stop impulse spending.

Wait, what?

Yeah you heard us. Going directly from weekly shopping hauls into a ‘no buy year’ (eek) might be great for influencers’ view counts, but it’s just not realistic. We’re human, and humans like their little treats.

What are some of the things you spend money on regularly, that truly brighten your day?

For some of us at Up that’s a super nice coffee, every day. For others, a cheeky visit to the Bunnings plant racks every so often is the real deal – and maybe that $1 Slurpee habit isn’t a bad choice in the scheme of things, so let’s chill out and enjoy it.

You can formalise this Plan For Treats with a splurgey Saver. Add a scheduled transfer every payday, enough to cover these treats, and you’ve just given your brain something real to focus on, look forward to, and completely enjoy.

Pick one dream that’s real

If you’ve spent any time on the socials lately, you’d be excused for thinking the whole population of Australia (except you, ugh) was cruising around the gelateria in Rome. Turn off that feed, look around in the reals and yep, most of us are still here working the day job and chilling at the park, not the piazzo.

And actually we’re doing just fine.

The race to match other people is real, and it’s enough to give The Dude anxiety. So let’s shift focus. Money goals only make sense when they’re yours. Instead of travel, would your soul be happier with a someday couch or cat of your own?

Maybe when that “Kitten Time” Saver is set up, it’ll be easier to say yes to the best and nah to the rest.

Lock It Up

Two second success time: chuck a lock on those Savers.

Locks on Savers can be removed, but that takes three hours. So if you wander past a record shop and see a vintage Bowie vinyl you Absolutely Need, you can have it! But you have to wait just long enough to remember about that cat from step two.

Think about its little eyes. How warm it would be purring away on your lap. Aww. Maybe that record isn’t as much of a must have as you thought all of a sudden.

Maybuy the rest, or Maybuy not

Of course you love that feeling of checking out with a full cart. We all do. The shopping experience is literally designed to feel that way, right down to the last pixel. So why beat yourself up about loving it – when you can just replace it?

Maybuy is designed to give you all the joy of checkout, without signing future you up for a bunch of credit card or BNPL debt. Curate the things you want by hitting the share button in your mobile browser and tapping the option for Up. You can make wishlists to your heart’s content, shuffle around what you’re saving for and when, and just all around keep an eye on your daydreams.

(Psst: you might be shocked at how many things lose their shine after the first dopamine hit’s done with.)

Disappear the Stressy Stuff

Well, we won’t actually take your money, promise. But what we can do is remove the money that you need for bills and other grown up bulldust, from your visual feed.

If that sounds good, first, tell Up your Payday. Next, whenever you pay a bill, mark it as a Regular. Third, switch your balance to ‘Spendable’.

Up will only show you the money that will be left over after bills, so when your brain’s in a spending mood it won’t see the rent money and think it’s good to go on the tab for Happy Hour.

Feel Your Feelings

A really good day that ‘calls for’ champers and cheese; a really bad day that ‘needs’ a bout of clothes shopping. (A few drinks that make cat money seem less important.)

Our emotional state can massively impact how we spend and save, and at a deeper level, understanding where you’re at with your mental health can be the difference between living in debt and worry, and feeling like your money is totally sorted.

This post by Upsider Ollie about managing ADHD goes into detail about their custom built Up system, and shows just how massive an impact things like ADHD, but also depression, bipolar and other conditions can have on your finances, as well as your day to day life.

Knowing your own health and happiness – and how they impact what you do with money – can be a head start on designing your own Up setup so your banking works with you, not against you.

Unsub, delete, and mute.

OK, this one is a bit lighter, promise.

Time to make a cuppa, raid the Scotch Finger packet, and settle in with your phone for some quality unfollow time. Let’s rejig what’s coming at you every day, in your email, your socials, and even your group chats. We’re going to bet that some of it just makes you feel lousy.

While you’re at it, consider deleting any spending or social apps you struggle with. If you really need them, you can install them again. We have the technology, yeah? But you do not need them beeping at you about Friday night ‘specials’ when you have all the stuff to make spag bol right there in the fridge.

Caveat – you just can’t go on the internet, or in the world for that matter, without people showing you stuff you need. It’s not possible. But building up a habit of regularly saying ‘no’ to bad inputs in your good day, can be real power.

Recruit your mates

Speaking of being in the world, humans need each other.

If your mates are the kinds of legends who’ll be there for you, can you talk to them about that kitten dream? Maybe one or more of them will be up to spot you in a Save Up 1000 challenge, or hype you up to keep your Locked Saver locked. If they’re a really, bestest of the best kind of mate, there’s even 2Up – a place where you can save together for something you both want. You could get on that savings hype train together, and both get festival tickets this summer.

(And if they’re more the kind of crew that will give you sh*t for wearing last year’s kicks, maybe it’s time to update your mates instead. Just saying.)

Forget and forgive

Last of all, friends. Know that we’ve all been there. We’ve all forgotten about the gas bill and spent money we should have kept. We’ve all bought something that didn’t fit, that sat in a ‘to be returned’ pile till it was too late. This is completely regular human stuff, and just putting these tricks into play won’t make you immune.

So if you do get tempted and give in to a little spending?

Be kind to yourself, and start again tomorrow. We’re here if you want to chat about it – hit us up in Talk To Us. We’re always keen to compare Maybuy wishlists and which Bowie album is worth having on vinyl (all of them obviously, it just depends on how many kittens you need as well).

Stay well and do what’s best for you –