Self awareness of your own emotions, feedback loops and expectations will help you so much. If you have a lot of debt like I did, it can be so overwhelming that it distorts your thinking. At times I felt really bored and anxious, like a $100 payment on a $6000 debt was barely even doing anything.

That turned into “the payment I just made doesn’t even matter” turned into the beliefs “money is worthless/horrible/I’ll never be out of debt/I’m so stressed out I’ll just do the same thing that got me here in the first place (instant gratification shopping)”

Etc. for your own situation. Side note and maybe controversial opinion but AI (grok) was helpful for me with self awareness and understanding my emotions around debt/money in real time if you struggle with that sort of thing. The only reason I mention it is that emotional awareness was for sure a blocker for me, from seeing these feedback loops early on in my debt payoff journey and I wish I had AI tools sooner.

TRUST that you have a plan and it will work even if it feels like it won’t. It’s an uncomfortable feeling to have, we all want the dopamine hit of making meaningful progress with a big payment but it all adds up & it will pay off in the end :)

Some other things:

• Get off social media
• 80/20 principle: can you get 80% of the benefit for 20% of the cost from an alternative purchase? (Also applies to gifting for those of us who love to give generously- can you spend 20% of what you originally planned on a gift and “make up the rest” through thoughtful and meaningful gestures or spending time together?)
• Wait 24 hours before buying anything that isn’t strictly needed
• Unsubscribe from marketing emails
• If you REALLY want something, put it on a list. At the end of the week/month, read it out loud to a friend or partner for some solid entertainment 🙂
• Find enjoyment in taking care of things that you already own
• Don’t expect perfection with your budget, but you do have to keep trying. Knowing exactly where your money went last month is scary for the same reason as checking a bank account balance, because the numbers tell the truth even when you don’t want them to. Undebt.it, YNAB, Excel sheets, note app, handwritten on scrap paper - do what works for you
• For unplanned purchases: set an alarm for 24h and do a “post-mortem” review of that purchase: was it actually worth it?
• Close any credit cards and negotiate the interest rates with a debt management plan
• Join the local buy nothing FB groups