I seem to suffer from an extreme lack of self-control when it comes to impulse purchases. Some of the things where I end up spending the most money include:

1. music
2. books
3. software

There’s nothing wrong with spending money in any of those things. However, our household has been using YNAB for a while. I’ve been going over budget for those kinds of spendings for a few months now, mostly because I’ve been convincing myself that it’s good to spend money on such things. And, for the most part, I think I’m right. Supporting artists and creatives is good. Supporting 100% user-supported entreprises, too, is good.

What isn’t good is breaking the commitment to myself and my spouse. We both commit to spending within a given budget. I often end up going over-budget. She often ends up going under-budget. This lopsidedness might be manifesting itself in my partner not getting the things she wants or needs, or creating undue stress because we’re consistently blowing our budget and having to move money around.

To fight this, I want to introduce the concept of a Buy Day into my daily routine. To start with, I’m going to go with a weekly cadence:

I’m only allowed to make personal purchases on Friday. This aligns with Bandcamp Fridays and the end of the week feels like the best time to purchase things because it’s the day where I’ll be less likely to buy something:

• if it’s a physical item, I’m adding time for the item to arrive because nothing is shipped over the weekend
• if it’s software, I’m less likely to have time to tinker with it over the weekend
• similar with digital content: I have more time during the week to listen to new music, read, etc. Weekends are mostly family time, with a few pockets of persontal time

Eventually, I want to try taking to the next level and have a single Buy Day per month. I can note down the things I want to buy, then re-examine those things with a more critical eye during the Buy Day.

The idea is that I’ll only spend money on the truly essential - not on the things that I need in the practical sense, necessarily, but on things that enrich my life in some way.

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