Cultivate #11: You Didn’t Find It, It Found You: Breaking the Habit of Mindless Spending

ASK BEFORE YOU BUY APRIL You guys know I'm all about saying the quiet part out loud… so, let's just admit that we’re not just spending money, we’re chasing a feeling. Half the time, we didn’t even come up with the idea to buy it. You didn’t find it. It found you. Yikes. Because we’re on these apps every day, and they are literally built to study us and sell to us. They know what we like, what we pause on, what we’ve bought before… so when something shows up and all of a sudden it feels like "omg, how did it know I needed this?!?" it’s not random. Big tech knows us, and let's just say there's basically a file with your name on it that tracks all your online behavior. The late night Amazon scroll, the Target trip that somehow turns into way more than planned… all of it. It’s easy to brush it off like “it’s just $20” or “it’s not a big deal,” but when we actually look at it, those little moments add up (not even just financially). And if buying the thing actually fixed the feeling… we wouldn’t keep going back for more. That’s what this episode is about. I’m walking through Ask Before You Buy April, a simple way to pause, check in, and stop reacting every time we feel the urge to spend. We're not trying to be perfect, just more intentional. If you’ve ever added something to cart for no real reason… (Hi, hello, it's me) this one’s for us. And if you want to do this together, come join me on Facebook. I’ll be sharing the rules, the questions, ways to replace that dopamine hit, and a place to track what we’re not spending… which is honestly very eye-opening. Let’s just see what happens when we stop and ask why. Join me here: Katelyn Gerhardt