How habit boredom makes you spend more

HAVE you ever felt a sudden motivation to become a better person? This probably happened last night while you were in bed mulling over your past mistakes. Or maybe you saw someone successful and you went, “I can do that too if I put my mind to it.” And put your mind to it, you did. You worked hard, changed your overspending ways, and became

But weeks later, your new money-saving habit started to feel like a chore. You replaced your impulsive buying habit with a less-rewarding one, and now you’re starting to hate it too. Slowly but surely, your will

healthy life keeps fading until you go back to your old ways. That’s basically what habit boredom is in a nutshell.

Why do we get habit boredom? The same way we get bored when watching something repetitive, we also tend to get bored with whatever habits we try to form. For example, if you were able to make a habit out of setting aside a portion of your pay every month, then that’s well and good. Keep doing it and you’ll eventually feel like you’re over it. This makes you vulnerable to spending more.

According to researchers, about 40 percent of our daily activities are performed habitually. So if you’re trying to introduce a brand new habit

for example — it gives you an emotional response. Keeping a tab of your spendings on your journal gives you the sense of

you do it. The thing is emotional responses tend to diminish.

Do your new habit enough times and you’ll eventually get

journal doesn’t give you the same the old me.” That’s not what I’m saying here. After all, there are effective ways to combat habit boredom and continue living a

just some of them.

Spice up your routine. Don’t let your new habit get stale by making it more interesting. For instance, if you’re trying to make a habit out of packing your own lunch to save money, don’t pack the same food items every day. Mix things up once in a while.

Encourage a friend to join you. It’s always helpful to do things with someone else, especially if you’re trying to change your money habits. This way, you can be held accountable by your friend and you won’t likely to veer off the right path.

Maintain a streak or record. If there’s one thing that will motivate most of us, it’s the satisfaction of keeping a streak alive or breaking a personal record. Use this to further motivate yourself into continuing your money-saving ways.

Give yourself small rewards. Because maintaining a habit is a lot harder than it seems, treat yourself once in a while. It goes without saying that you shouldn’t overdo it. It’s not right to buy an expensive dress after successfully saving your money for a week.

Embrace boredom. Because really, what’s the worst that could

in all your free hours with an activity. Doing literally nothing will give you more time for some

free time to get some rest or sleep.

Choosing to live a more financially healthy life is a good