How to avoid a money meltdown
It is estimated we make approx. 35,000 decision every single day. WTF?!
There are 86,400 seconds in the day. So, if 1 decision takes approx. 1 second than that equates to like 40% of our day.
The best way to avoid decision fatigue is to reduce the amount of choice you have (why do you think Marie Kondo is so popular with her minimalist approach to life and why Simon Cowell always wears the same outfit…).
Also, by reducing the number of options you have in your daily life, you are less likely to make a bad decision.
This is one of the main reasons why people meal prep when they are trying to lose weight or tone up!
If your lunch choices have been mapped out for the week, when it lunchtime comes around, you don’t then spend 15 minutes talking yourself out of getting a McDonalds and into buying a salad from Tesco.
The temptation to be unhealthy is literally taken away because you already have a healthy lunch sat in the fridge. The choice has already been made for you!
When you get into the habit of planning how to spend your money for the month, you are less likely to make bad decisions.
Whilst you cannot ‘meal prep’ your money decisions, you can take a similar approach.
As a start, meal prepping is a great way to save money because you factor money for food into your monthly budget. And as a result, it will stop you being robbed blind for a smoothie-sandwich-meal-deal from Pret that would cost a fraction of the price if you made it at home.
Quick maths – If you work a 5-day week and spend £9 for lunch in Pret everyday, that works out to be £2,340 a year you are spending. (that is not a personal attack at Pret, but a) there is a Pret on every street corner in London AND their prices can be extortionate for what you are actually getting).
P.s. be honest with yourself. If you think it is unrealistic that you would eat a prepped lunch everyday and would end up buying lunch out on a Friday anyway, then you are actually wasting money so maybe make a compromise and meal prep for 4 days and treat yourself 1 lunch out.
Prep your week, based on the activities planned and things you might spend money on.
When I budget for the month, I look at my social calendar and write down the money I know will be spending e.g. the cost for dinner plans with a friend, or the cost for drinks at a music gig I’m going to, etc.
Each month, I map out what I might spend in my budget; I am then less likely to spend unnecessarily because the decision on how much to spend at the allocated activities has already been made.
Top tip – Be realistic when you budget how much you think you might spend at each event, otherwise you will just end up ignoring the set budget and spending way more than you normally would.
Happy saving!
Laura xx
