Pause Before You Purchase
Description: In this episode, Melissa and Maribeth (from ADD Professionals) help combat impulsiveness by giving special tools manage spontaneity.
Written Transcript
Money can be a very emotional matter for the Adult ADDer. In the first place, money can be a tedious, boring thing to deal with, such as making a budget, balancing the checkbook or deciding whether or not we can afford a purchase.
We love to be spontaneous – otherwise known as impulsive!
Who wants to deal with the details when the excitement of a new purchase is so alluring! But that impulsivity can get us into real trouble!
We can also experience overwhelm, when dealing with money. Often times money matters can be such an emotional downer that it is just easier NOT to think about them or to lie about them to ourselves or our partner. This, too, can get us into real trouble!
Here is where that all-important pause can come in handy!
Pausing to take a breath and calm that overwhelm.
Pausing to give our logical prefrontal cortex a chance to kick in.
So here are some important times to use that pause button to Stop, Relax and Think about money. If we do this, our decisions will be much better and money matters will become a source of pride rather than a source of guilt and shame.
PAUSE and set up a budget for yourself or for your family. Take a little time to set up that framework for success. Then we can revisit it weekly or monthly to see how we are doing. We can do this in handwritten form and keep it in a notebook or use a computer program such as Quicken.
PAUSE daily to write down purchases, balance that checkbook and know where we are. Again, we can do this manually or through the online banking options that are available. When we do this every day, we will begin to feel more in control, more positive and much richer because we are not letting things get out of control
PAUSE before making a purchase. Pausing to make a list before entering a store can help us purchase only what we need, and not be sidetracked by what we want. Pausing to “sleep on” a big purchase will go a long way towards keeping us out of trouble after a big “impulse” buys. Remember, keep those receipts!
PAUSE before we talk to our partner about our budget or purchases. Avoiding the issue or lying about an expense will only blow up later. Honesty is the best policy here too. If we have slipped and been impulsive, it's best to jus admit it, take responsibility and make corrections if we can. Can we return an impulse buy? Should we rearrange the budget so as to not get into trouble later in the month? Do it now. Learn from it. Commit to doing better. We can!!
Remember, when we PAUSE, our logic kicks in and we can and will be a better money manager!