The Psychology of Spending: Why Your Brain Wants You to Stay Broke

Foreign. This is Busy Getting Better, the podcast for women who are committed to prioritizing their own personal growth. I'm your host, Madison J. A mindset and money coach, a first generation wealth builder and a woman on a mission to help you master your finances and live your best life. Money is not all we are covering though, because in order to live your best life, you have to become your best self. So we are diving deep into all things personal development and bringing you the mindset set shifts, money, tips and inspiration. You need to go out there, be bold and build the life you can't stop daydreaming about. It's time to get busy, babe. Busy getting better. What is up? Welcome to the show. Today is going to be a fun one. It is a solo episode and I get to yap about my favorite topic ever, which is all to do with human psychology. I think human psychology is one of the most fascinating things to learn about and to have conversations about because it is essentially why the heck we are the way that we are. And if you are on a journey to become your best self, if you are on a journey to change your financial reality, you must understand your own human psychology. You must understand how people operate, how our brains are wired and everything that is essentially working against you, making change in your life. Because if we think about the current reality that you're living in, everything that you have is a reflection of your daily habits, of your beliefs, of the effort and actions that you are taking. Those are the results that you have. And if we're trying to make change to that, that means we need to do something different. But when you start to do different things, you start to realize that there's kind of this like invisible force is like how I think about it, holding you back, holding you in place. And not for any bad reason. It's not like a negative thing. It's essentially just the way that our brains are wired. Our brains are wired to help you survive. They're to keep you alive. And so when we want to make change, our brain starts to really fight against that. And that's why it's so important to understand human psychology. That's why it's so important to have a conversation around money and spending and how all of this really plays in. And so I'm going to take you guys in a little bit of a behind the scenes of a recent training that I did within my Debt Ditcher Academy program. We went through the module Psychology of Spending and I think that it's a really important conversation to have always but also, we are heading into Black Friday sales. We are heading into holiday times. Like, we are heading into traditional a time of year where people do a lot of shopping, and not necessarily intentional shopping, because there's a lot of marketing efforts, there's a lot of advertisements going on right now to really control the way that you think and how you buy so that other people can get your money from you, your hard earned money from you. And so I want to have a conversation today about what that looks like. What are the biases behind our spending? What is the reason that we do the things that we do? Because I think when you create more awareness around it, you're able to start to act differently. You can essentially call yourself out on your own bullshit, right? I say this all the time. Like, you got to call yourself out on your own bullshit because you've got to recognize, oh, like, this is what's showing up and this is why. And also, thank you, right? Like, thank you for trying to keep me safe. Thank you for trying to keep me alive. And also, I'm a go anyway. I'm gonna go do the thing that I want to do or I'm gonna not let this influence the way that I spend. I'm not gonna let this influence the decision that I'm making because I recognize what and I recognize why it's trying to keep me safe. And again, as we're heading into holiday season, where it's just so easy to overspend, just swipe your card and give into just aimless shopping. And so I think it's an important time to have this conversation. And we had so many good takeaways, so much good feedback from the girls in the program that they were just absolutely loving this content. Going through this training actually helped someone recognize how they were spending. And they were able to make some really simple shifts in the way that they were viewing their money and what they were doing with it. And they were able to get out of credit card debt within three weeks of being in Debt Ditcher Academy, which is crazy. And I'm not saying that's going to be the case for anybody that goes through, but that's the power of recognizing your own spending triggers. That's the power of recognizing what's going on in your brain so that you can actually be like, oh, okay, maybe I don't want to spend like this. Maybe I don't want to continue on this path. Maybe I don't want to be stuck in the same cycle that I'm in. Maybe I want to break this Cycle. And I want to do something different. In order to do something different, we've got to create awareness around what the heck is going on. And so let's get into it. Let's talk about what the heck is going on in our brain through the lens of money, through the lens of spending. So I would like to formally welcome you to a little psychology of spending training. This information may blow your mind. It may blow your mind. It may change your life. I'm not going to lie, it's pretty interesting. I want to first talk about the way our brain is wired, right? I had already said our brain is wired to keep us alive. It is wired to make sure that we don't die. It is not there to help us thrive. And again, everything that our brain fears is essentially something that it deems as a threat to our survival. So we operate often in fear mode. Like, our brain is always going into fear because it wants to make sure that there's no threat to our survival. Essentially. If you think back to how our brains operate or how we operated as humans back in the day, when we think about, like, living as cavemen, living in these caves, fighting all these, like, tigers and bears and lions, whatever these people thought back then, right, they were just constantly trying to survive. And so that is the way that our brain is wired. And I think when we can understand that, we can start to have a lot of appreciation for the fact that things maybe aren't necessarily as scary as we're making them out to be, but our brain is just really trying to keep us safe. And safe for our brain is in the comfortable zone. This is really important to understand. Anything that your brain has not experienced before, anything you have not experienced before is like, ooh, I don't know about this. I'm not quite sure. I don't know if the situation is going to kill me or not, so we better fear it. So our brain fears anything that's in the unknown. And once we can start to understand that, we can be like, oh, that makes sense why change feels so hard. Because change inevitably requires us to step into the unknown. And so anytime you're trying to do something new in life and with your finances, you are going to face fear. And when you can start to recognize fear for what it is, you can call it out and you can be like, okay, I get it. I get what's happening right now. And you can choose to move through it. And the more that you move through, through it, and the more that you show your brain, hey, the unknown actually isn't as scary as maybe we're making it out to be. That's when you can start to get really comfortable with taking risks and you can get really comfortable with stepping into the unknown, which is how we start to change our lives. And so when we think about fear and money, when we move into fight or flight with our finances, we will essentially either have a fight, flight, freeze or fawn response. And so we really quickly are going to start to do things like fight is impulse spending, it's retail therapy. It's being really defensive than being really in control with our money. If we're in flight mode, we might have like a heavy avoidance of looking at our bills or a budgeting. We're just kind of ignoring the problem. Maybe we have like a lot of auto pay things set up and we're just kind of like, you know what, we're just gonna let this happen and I'm not really gonna check it. And it's just kind of this like avoidance tendency. And then if you are in freeze mode, you might get really overwhelmed, you might procrastinate a lot, you might fall into analysis paralysis. This is where you're like researching all the best options, the best high yield savings accounts, your research, searching the best stocks to invest in. You're doing all of the research but then you're not taking action because you're like, I don't know which one the right option is and I don't want to fuck it up. Right? There's a lot of fear of things up, especially if you're someone who's gone from not having money to having money and you're like, oh, I don't know, right? I know for me that often showed up as like, I felt like I was holding the golden ticket to the rest of my life. I was like, this is it, this is how I'm going to get everything that I ever wanted. But then with that came the fear of it up because it was like, well, if this is the golden ticket and I make the wrong choice with it, am I still going to get everything that I want on the other side of that? And then the last one is fawn. So this is heavy, like over pleasing people, undervaluing yourself. There's a lot of like guilt and shame. Maybe you have money, maybe people around you don't and you're like over giving to them because you're trying to compensate. And essentially all of these are ways that we are self sabotaging our finances because we are afraid of the unknown. And so I really want to encourage you to start to ask yourself, like, when you're trying to do something new, when you're trying to make change, like, maybe how does this show up for you? And as I'm running through the fight Flight, Freeze Fawn, do you start to recognize some of the ways that you might be treating your money and it might be operating out of fear? And the thing that's really important to note here is that it's not always going to sound like, oh, my gosh, I'm so scared, right? Most people are not walking around like, I'm so scared of money, like, don't give me money. Most people are just walking around with these subconscious things of, like, I don't want to mess this up, and I want to make sure that I succeed. And, like, what's on the other side of all of this? I don't know. It feels scary. It feels overwhelming. And so that's really the first thing to understand when we're trying to figure out how to change things is like, recognizing how fear shows up in our finances. And that is a really important lesson in recognizing. Recognizing again that, like, it's just this belief, it's this emotion that's coming up, but it's not necessarily a threat to your survival. And it's okay to step into the unknown. It's okay to do something different with our money. And the next thing that I want to talk about that's so important to understand with our brains is that we are all addicts. I don't know if you knew that. We are all addicted to dopamine. Our brain is wired to overspend. Our brain is wired to continue to crave more, more and more and more and more and more. There's a really good book out there called the Molecule of More that talks about this. Just talk, talking about how that is essentially what's going on. Like, our brain is wired to crave more. And so your brain doesn't necessarily want nice things. It just wants dopamine, and it wants to figure out how to get more dopamine. It is just constantly addicted to more and more dopamine. Dopamine is the chemical that drives us to want to chase, to achieve. It's what's happening when we're picturing this, like, reward that we're after. Like, we're in pursuit of it. We're thinking, like, oh, my gosh, this is going to be so good. And the dopamine starts to spike. And then we're like, yeah. And then we hit purchase. And then all of A sudden it shows up, and it's, like, exciting in the moment, but then it fades. And that's because the anticipation is now gone, because it's been completed. And so when our dopamine levels drop and then it goes back and it starts looking for the next thing exactly like an addict operates. When we understand, like, oh, my brain is addicted to dopamine, I don't know about you, but, like, I know. I think we could all probably benefit from a little bit of a dopamine detox. Our brains are wired from dopamine, and we live in a generation in a society where we have so access to stuff that fuels our dopamine. And then when that crashes, we crave more, right? And there's just so much access to dopamine. We're scrolling on our phones, like, that's triggering all of our dopamine response. We're online shopping. We're doing all of these things that are feeding this drug that is in our brain. And then when we stop doing it or when we get there, it's just like, okay, what's next? What's next? Which brings me to talking about the hedonic treadmill. Because this is what happens, is that we start to crave. Just like an addict. When you have a, you know, a hit of whatever, a drug, you get this euphoric high. And then when you come down from it, you need more to feel that again. The same thing happens with dopamine. So this is what happens, and this is why it is so easy to get into lifestyle creep. This is why it is so easy to just be like, I need more and more and more. Because you desire something, and then you strive to go get it. And then once you obtain it, you enjoy it for a hot second. And then what happens is you now get comfortable to this new baseline level. So in order to feel that level of dopamine again, you need more. And so now your baseline level for life just starts to increase. So again, lifestyle creep, what used to be a luxury becomes a norm, and now you need more and more and more of it in order to feel that same level of joy again, again, literally like an addict. And so when you think about this, again, it's like, it's so easy to understand how someone could give in to lifestyle creep. It's so easy to understand why someone could adopt, you know, a bad shopping habit or become like, an addict in shopping because you're chasing this thing, and then you get it, and you're like, okay, now what? Now I need more. Now I need more to feel that same thing again. And that's why it's like maybe at one point in your life, you know, a yearly vacation was like the dopest thing ever and then you start to acclimatize to that and now you're like, I need more. Let's, let's go on two a year, let's go on three year, let's go on a four a year. And now you're just like the, the chase of this like vacation, what is it even doing? And when we think about that through shopping or trying to improve our, our lives or like increase the way that our home looks or whatever it is, it's so easy to get caught in more. And then now you just need the same level or you need more in order to feel that same level of joy. And so that normal resets. And again we just need more and more of it. So just understanding the way that dopamine triggers that, like if we're thinking about going out and shopping and we're scrolling online and we're checking out and doing all of these things now we just need more of that. And the reason that our brains do this as well is because of this instant gratification, right? I talk about this all the time, but like we are just living in a society where instant gratification is running ramp and the ability to say no to something now in order to have long term success and long term satisfaction is such an important skill nowadays, it is such an important thing to focus on. Being able to fall in love with delayed gratification will change your life. When we live in a world that is so obsessed with instant gratification, I beg of you to learn how to love delayed gratification. Because it is something that is going to bleed into every aspect of your life. If you're trying to change your fitness goals, if you're trying to change your finances, if you're trying to up level in your career, all of those things take time. And we again, we have so much access, it is so easy to give into and let instant gratification run our lives. And the reason that our brains are wired to crave instant gratification again is because we are meant to prioritize survival. And so thousands of years ago when we were just trying to survive, we weren't thinking years in advance, we weren't thinking decades in advance, which is what is required to build wealth, right? Wealth is long term. It is a long term mindset. You are putting money away that you are going to be able to tap into in decades, which means you have to say no now so that you can say yes later. And back in the day, we didn't have that. There was no way of thinking about planning for things like retirement. And so we were just like, I need to survive today. I need to make sure I don't die today. I need to make sure that the food I eat and everything that happens around me is today. Right? And again, that instant gratification just rewards this dopamine drug in our brain and continues to want us craving more and more and more. And now, and now, and now, when you can start to step out of needing everything in this exact moment, which is a dopamine response, it's also a scarcity response of like, needing to have it now because what if it's not there in the future? And you can start to lean into delayed gratification and trust that everything that you're going to want and everything that you're going to need, like, there's going to be in a time and a place where it's it. We can start to say no to things now, and we can recognize that this dopamine is just running rampant in our brain and that's what craves us to want more. And again, this conversation's so important to recognize when we're being faced with all the marketing from Black Friday, all of the marketing from holiday sales, and all of these things telling you how much happier you would be if you purchase this thing and you purchase this thing now, right? And so you've really gotta be able to be like, do I need this and do I need this now? And what is driving it? Which brings me to your brain and biases. These are the subconscious patterns that influence your spending. And these are what are. This is all the backbone of everyone, every human, right? We all operate from this. But again, when you can start to understand how it shows up for you, it can be like, you sneaky little bee, you're not getting me this time. I'm actually going to be in the driver's seat of my finances. Thank you so much for trying to keep me safe. Thank you so much for trying to keep me in the loop with the world. Like, I'm good. I'm going to do something different. And one of the biggest ones, right, I'll kick us off with is confirmation bias. I love talking about this one because there's so, so much power to this bias. This is essentially why you find proof of what you already believe. Confirmation bias. We talk often like, you can use this to your benefit. I'll talk about how we use it to our benefit. Confirmation bias is like, oh my gosh, I think everything's always working out for me. And then we walk out into the world and all you see is opportunities, right? We talk a lot about this type of mindset. When we think about manifestation, when we think about the law of attraction, when we think about utilizing your reticular activating system to start to. You see opportunity everywhere. What you're utilizing is confirmation bias. And so when you're going out into the world and thinking like, everything's always working out for you, now you're finding proof for it, that's really great. And also it could be working against you just as. Just in the same way, right? Where it's like, if you think like, oh, everyone has this, or I need to have this, or else, like, you're gonna find proof. Your brain always loves to be right. And once you hold the belief about something, it's automatically gonna filter the world around you to prove you right. And that is why you don't is so critical to have an important conversation with yourself about what your beliefs are about the world, about money, about what is possible for you, about what is possible for people like you. Like, what could you accomplish? And whatever my. One of my favorite quotes ever from Henry Ford is, whether you think you can or you think you can't, you're right. And it's so true. And that's through the lens of this confirmation bias. Because the more belief, like the more evidence that you have that you are right, the more you're going to operate in that place, right? And so even if there's all this facts and all this evidence out there to prove you incorrect, you don't care because you're just seeing the lens through this, this very narrow lens of you being right, right, of everything being exactly as you believe it to be. And what's so interesting is that we are all operating in the world through our own lens of confirmation bias. We all see the world so differently. We all see things through the lens of stories that we tell ourselves and the beliefs that we have and what we want to be true in the world. And so when we think about confirmation bias, this is like when we, when we want to change finances right through this lens, it's like, okay, if we always think we're going to be stuck, if we think we need this next thing, if we. Everybody's doing this, like, if we all of this stuff, like we're gonna do it, like we're gonna operate in a place because we wanna be right. We wanna be right. Your brain always wants you to be right. And so it's really important to challenge this and really important to understand how this shows up. Especially if you're like, oh my gosh, nobody's doing this, or like everybody's in debt or nobody can invest in this market. And like, again, no, no, everyone's going out and doing Black Friday shopping or whatever it is. Like, you're gonna find all the proof that you're right. And so of course you're gonna be like. And see, that's why, see, I was right. Everybody loves to be right. Am I right? I'm right. I know I'm right. And so the next one is also kind of in the similar vein of like always wanting to fit in. So we've got the status quo bias. This is why it's so hard to make change if you want to make change. Because again, we already talked about this one a little bit. But like, your brain doesn't want change because change feels risky to it. So even if you're in a situation, you're in a scenario where you're like, okay, this is not ideal. So oftentimes you could be trapped in paycheck to paycheck cycles, you could be in a job unit you hate, you could be in a relationship that is draining. You could have friends around you that just suck and do not motivate you. All of these things that you're like, this is not ideal, but guess what? It's comfortable. And so we stay, we stay in the comfortable known instead of stepping into the uncomfortable unknown. Because our brain does not like change. And so every small change that you're doing requires you to start to rewire your brain to start to trust yourself more, to step into that unknown. And it's really hard to step out into do something new, especially if you're surrounded by people that it's like, so not the norm. Because we don't want to be an outsider, right? We really don't want to be on the outside of what the status quo is. We don't want to be on the outside of what everybody else is doing because of another biase that is called herd mentality. Herd mentality is essentially the idea that we are going to do what everybody else is doing and you kind of follow the herd, right? We've all heard the saying, like, well, if all your friends were jumping off a cliff, would you jump off a cliff too? And all of us younger, of course I would, right? There is literally a wiring in our brain to try and conform and fit into society. We do that because back in the day we used to operate in clans, we used to operate in small communities, right? And if you were ostracized from that community, that means that you were cut off from resources, you were cut off from the ability to survive. And so of course you want to stay part of the group. Of course you want to fit in, of course you want to go with the flow. You don't want to ruffle any feathers. If everybody's going this way, I'm going to go this way too. Even if everyone's just jumping off of a cliff, right? I think about this often. We think about the way that our society right now is conditioned to spend money. Like if we think about the narrative that is given to us from a very young age, it's like, go to college, take out these student loans, don't worry, it's normal. Everybody's doing it. You're gonna have a great job on the back end of it. Don't even stress about the high levels of debt that you're taking out. 18 year old, you sign it away, go for it, right? And you're like, well, everybody's doing it. And this is what everyone's telling me to do. Like, of course I'm gonna go this route. And then it's like, okay, now you get the good job. Okay, now you have the, you know, the, if you have the nice house that you upgrade, you get the new car. Like, we just are following in this path that's laid out for us to fit into society standards, right? And what happens on the back end of that? Okay, let's take a look at, you know, if that's the average path people take. Average people are unhappy, Average people are in debt. Average people are in relationships that don't support them and push them to be their best selves. Average people are in jobs that suck or soul sucking or don't fulfill them. Like, there's just all these crazy stats about like, okay, follow this path, right? And you end up here. So it's like just imploring you to look at, well, what, what is making me follow these decisions that everybody else is doing and do I actually want to do them? Do these decisions actually support me and the life I'm trying to create and the person I'm trying to become? Or am I just falling pressure to keeping up with everyone around me and following this path? Keeping up with the Joneses used to be keeping up with people in your Neighborhood which those people are in the same socioeconomic class as you. When we talk about keeping up with the Joneses, now, we're not talking about that. We're talking about keeping up with the Kardashians kids, where now everyone's trying to follow what all these luxurious people are doing. I gotta go on all these crazy trips. I gotta have all these crazy nice cars and jewelry and all these things. And it's like, okay, but now we're comparing ourselves to people that have such a different level of wealth and such a different level of resources, and we're feeling this pressure as a society to keep up. Right, Punny there. Keeping up with the Kardashians, keeping up with the Joneses. But it's true. And so this is where FOMO comes in for me. I've talked about this before, that, like, FOMO spending used to run my life. It was like, oh, I want to keep. I want to be able to be at that event. I want to be able to go on this trip. I want to say, I did this too. I want to have the nice car. I want to have whatever it is. FOMO is a very common way that people spend money. And it is this herd mentality bias that's behind you. And so when you're stepping out to make a financial purchase and you're trying to make a decision, like, where is it coming from? And is it because everybody else has it? It's because all the cool kids are doing it. Is it because it's something that's actually going to make a positive impact on your life and on the reality that you're trying to create? And so just making sure that we're not necessarily g into social approval for the sake of social approval. Right. There is obviously benefit to fitting in with society, right? Like that. That all that stuff still stands. Like, you don't want to get ostracized. Like, you still want to make sure that you're like, in with the crew and also people around you in smaller communities like, it makes sense to try and fit in with them. So, like, there is some sort of like, you know, desire to be able to do that, but just making sure that you're doing it for the right reasons and that it's not this, like, ill intended pressure that it's making you spend and that you're understanding that, like, oh, yeah, I gotta admit, you just want this nice new car because I see everyone else getting it, or I kind of do just want to go on these vacations because it feels like, well, everyone's doing European summer is like, I must do it too. And let me figure out how to get that first class flight. Like, listen, I get it, I love that stuff. But like, what's driving it, right? The next bias I want to talk about, we already mentioned a little bit, but that's again, it's so important to understand. It's called the present bias and it is essentially the instant gratification trap. I'm sure we all remember the study about the marshmallows, you know, where they left the kids alone and they're like, you can have one right now, now. Or if you're a good girl and you wait, you can have two. And this was a test of can people have the discipline to focus on delayed gratification? And they're testing this stuff in kids at a really young age. Because again, our brain is going to. It wants the now. Like, it is just wired to want the now. So understanding that every time you are choosing to delay your gratification and push that reward down the path, you are rewiring your brain. And I think that's such a cool thing to recognize is like every time you do that, you're practicing that skill, right? You're building that muscle to be able to say no today so that you can say yes to things tomorrow. And just making sure that you understand how much instant gratification really shows up for us and how much of that is trying to control the show. Okay, the next two I want to talk about, we've got Loss Aversion and Sunk Cost Fallacy. And I know this is a lot of information, but I hope you guys are chugging along because this is just game changing. When we start to understand this stuff, Loss aversion is essentially why losing hurts more than winning feels good. Good. Let me say that again, why losing hurts more than winning feels good. If somebody lost a hundred bucks, it's like the worst thing, right? You're like, this sucks, but if you win a hundred bucks, you're like, whatever. I guess that was cool, right? And so we're always trying to avoid pain is essentially the idea here. Our brain does not want to be in pain, right? Again, it's trying to keep us safe. Pain is not safe in a brain. So instead of. So it's always going to be focusing on making sure that we don't have a lot of loss. And Sunk Cost Fallacy is probably one of my favorite things to think about and talk about in here because it's so interesting the way that it shows up for everybody. Sunk cost fallacy is essentially like, I've already spent too much on this to stop now. Too much time, too much money, too much energy. Sunk cost fallacy shows up for people with investments. It shows up for people in careers and relationships. People that are in a eight year relationship and they're like, I'm so unhappy, but I've already put so much in the family and what are we gonna do? We live together and we have a dog, whatever it is. And then, and then it's just like you feel trapped, but it's like you already invested so much time, money and energy into that relationship, it feels hard to walk away from. Or this could show up if you are in an investment, right? And you are like, okay, I've put so much money into this already, but it's still bleeding and we haven't gotten there. But you're like, but I put too much into this in order to walk away from that. And that's a lot of ego. But it's also also this sunk cost fallacy of I could be so close. Or like, I've already done so much. Same thing with career. It's really hard for people to change their careers later in life because they're like, I've already invested so much in this. Maybe you've gone to school and you've gotten a degree, maybe you've gotten two degrees that you're like, this is gonna help me. And then you get into the career and you're like, this is low key, miserable. Or you're like, wake up one day and you're like, what am I doing? My life is passing me by and this is actually what I want to do. But I've already spent all the time. Maybe you've already built a decade, a two decade long career. Maybe you're. Maybe it's just been three years. Who cares? Cares. You in your mind, you're like, I've already done so much down this path. Like, what is it? Can I go do something else? I've already put so much in here. And to that I'm like, baby girl, life is so short. It is 100% okay for you to be in a scenario, be in a situation where you've now learned a lot more information about what that was, that career, that relationship, that investment. And now you are like, I don't think I want to do this anymore. I don't think this is the path for me. I think I've changed. I think there's something else. It is absolutely okay for you to walk away from some of that stuff. But some cost fallacy gets people really stuck on trying to change their financial decisions. And then the last one I want to talk about, and I think this one will be the most relevant as we are heading into all of the crazy sales is just anchoring bias. And so this is essentially why a sale is not necessarily always a steal. And so people use this type of psychology in marketing often where it's like, like, you know, we've got this price and then we're gonna mark it down. And we're like, look. Look how good of a deal this is, right? And it's like, okay, but a sale is not you saving money. You are still spending money. And oftentimes this happens with, like, a reference point of, let's say you going out and buying a new car, right? You're like, oh, my God, look, this is a $60,000 car that's on sale for 30,000. And your brain, I know your brain, I know what's going on. You're like, oh, I'm saving $30,000 on this car. And that is exactly what marketers are hoping that you are thinking, and that is how you're thinking. So when we think about that, they' anchor something to, like, here's the original price, and here's what is such a good deal is. And what happens, unfortunately, a lot of times around a Black Friday, like, I've seen people expose so many things on Amazon, for example, is people will, like, raise their prices just to lower their prices, right? This happens all the time. Raise your price to lower your price so that it looks like a deal. And a lot of times this happens during Black Friday. There's like a website, I think it's called Camel Camel, if I remember correctly, where you can go in and actually look at, like, what prices are normally. So you can actually see if you are getting a deal. But you just want to make sure. I think my biggest advice always on this too, is like, making sure that you were like, yes, this is actually something I want and I'm getting a deal, right? So oftentimes we head into these things and we're like, the deal itself is what convinces you to hit purchase. And that's never a good thing. If it's just the deal of like, oh, my God, this is such a good deal. I can't believe I'm getting this deal. And that's the motivator. It's not a purchase for you. Is not a purchase for you. If you're like, oh, I actually really need this, or I really wanted to invest in this, or I really know that this is something that is going to benefit me. And I'd already been kind of like thinking about something like this and then it goes on sale. That is a slide, you know? But if, again, if it's just the deal that's motivating you to say yes, not necessarily a steal, but if you already knew you wanted it and then you got it, we love that. We love that. I think that's a really big win. So just pay attention. Just have some discernment as you're heading into holidays and sales and also just in general trying to change your finances. Like, recognize how these biases are showing up for you. Recognize that you are an addict. Accept it for what it is and start to understand how that shows up for you and how you can start to not let it control your decisions. Because again, with anything good that you're trying to create in life, it takes takes time. And being able to enjoy the journey and being able to prioritize things that are going to be waiting for you on the other side of that journey is such a key to success. And again, we're building wealth. Like, that takes time. Like, you're not going to wake up and be a millionaire. You're not going to wake up and have all, like, your perfect financial situation. It takes time. It takes discipline. And that is why getting to the other side and having that and working for that feels so good, because you've been able to prove to yourself that, like, you can say no to some of these things. You can understand how the psychology and the brain is working to, again, keep you safe. But inadvertently, keeping you safe means it's keeping you stuck and keeping you broke. And so we've got to understand how to identify these things, work through them, and start to use them to our advantage. So if this is your kind of vibe, if you love the psychology of spending, I would love for you to drop me a dm. Let me know what landed with you. If there's anything in here that you're like, yeah, I think that this is going to be a game changer for me. And if you want to go deeper, if you want to go deeper in some of this stuff, again, this was one of the trainings that we cover within debt, your academy, because it's so important, as we're trying to get out of debt, start to save, start to step into that next chapter of building wealth, which is exactly why I create this program. I want you to hear that this is not just a program for you to get out of debt. This is a program for you to change the way that you view money. Step into a new money identity and use this as a propellant for you to then go build wealth. I'm not just here to help you get out of debt. I want you to use all of this information to go and build wealth and to create the financial dream life that you are after. If you're interested in going deeper into some of this stuff, I would love to invite you to apply for our next cohort of Debt Ditcher Academy, where we go through all of this and so much more. So if that's something that you're interested in, please slide into my DMs, let me know where you're at, let me know how I can support you, and I am rooting for you. And I hope you have a fabulous rest of your day and I'll see you on the next episode.