Help, I can’t get motivated to budget

You’re not alone. That quick Thai take-away dinner on your way home from a late night at work last week and the new shoes on sale that you just had to have are now staring back you on your statement and looking much less attractive than they did at the time you handed over your card.

If some variation of this is a regular occurrence for you then the chances are high that you don’t have a budget. Or that you have trouble sticking to it. The simple economics is that you derive more satisfaction from your impulsive purchase at the time than you do in seeing your bank balance grow. The truth for you and many others just like you is: have money, will spend.

The unfortunate reality is that most of us have been conditioned that way. It’s only a pair of shoes and they made your legs look so much slimmer – and of course you deserved them. After all, you haven’t even bought any new shoes in well over a month. Meanwhile, you had a busy day at the office and were hungry, and that Pad Thai hit the spot perfectly.

In a parallel universe, you could have admired the shoes in the shop window, kept that credit card firmly stowed in your wallet and continued on walking until you got home. You would then look in your full fridge after your weekend supermarket expedition and chop up your veggies to toss in with some chicken, noodles and that new brand of Pad Thai sauce with the face of some MasterChef contestant from a few years ago.

Then you could have enjoyed your dinner while standing in the kitchen in one of your existing three pairs of hot red heels before packing the leftovers in a take-away container for lunch tomorrow. Guaranteed saving of at least $150.

So you may have lived through that first scenario this time around. Still, there’s no point in beating yourself up over it with those red heels. You tell yourself you’ll do better next time to alleviate your guilt today, but really, will you do better when you are confronted by the next “must have” accessory in your favourite colour?

What can you do today to build a new neural pathway that makes you walk right on by a store that is screaming out your name to buy something? The temptation may always be there, so how do you learn to not heed its call?

Start by paying attention. Begin by recognising the feeling of not being good enough without that new outfit or toy – even though you felt more than adequate those few minutes before you heard that unmistakable “buy me” voice imploring you to take it home.

Then allow that feeling to motivate you into taking back control and, dare I say it, set up a realistic budget.

What does a realistic budget look like? That’s a whole topic in itself. The first hurdle is getting you motivated enough to find out.