Exorcising Your Money Monsters This Halloween
In the spirit of the spooky season, let’s take a look at some of the popular monsters that reappear during this time and apply their scary behavior to your money mindset, taking a moment to think about what’s making it harder for you to reach your financial goals.
3 Sinister Budget Threats to Free Yourself From
This Halloween, it’s time to break the spell of financial neglect and avoidance by slaying the money vampires, zombies, and werewolves attacking your income.
The Vampire (aka cloaked subscriptions)
This monster slowly and quietly drains your bank account without you noticing. Small, automated monthly charges for apps, memberships, and streaming platforms that you forgot to cancel after the free trial or that go unused entirely. These charges suck the financial power from your disposable income.
How to Notice the Unnoticeable
From dedicated subscription tracking apps to searching your inbox for words like “free trial,” “subscription confirmed,” or “ auto-renew,” there are many ways to find any unused subscriptions.
Some credit card apps and financial institutions have built-in recurring payment trackers. Pulling up 2-3 months of bank, credit, or debit card statements is also helpful, but don’t forget to check for those yearly or quarterly subscription renewals as well.
For iPhone/iPad: Open your settings, tap your name at the top, and select subscriptions to see all your active and expired Apple-billed subscriptions.
For Android: Open the Google Play Store, tap your profile picture in the top right, go to payments and subscriptions, and then select subscriptions.
Some major platforms, digital wallets, and app stores to check:
Apple Wallet / App Store
Google Wallet / Google Play Store
Samsung Wallet
Amazon Pay / Amazon Memberships / Amazon Fire TV
PayPal
Venmo
Cash App
Roku
Steam
Epic Games Store
Klarna
Skrill
Payoneer
Some common recurring subscriptions include:
Cloud storage plans
Gaming subscriptions
Meal delivery services
Subscription boxes
Streaming services
Fitness memberships
Software licenses
The Zombie (aka bedtime shopping)
This monster takes over when you are exhausted from a long day and your willpower is dead. Sometimes, that late-night impulse shopping is really just a craving for dopamine (getting a little thrill from adding items to your cart) or feeling a sense of control in an otherwise chaotic day.
How to Interrupt the Single-minded Urge to Consume
Implement a 24-hour rule that creates a pause between your emotions and urge to buy something and the action of buying it. Wait 24 hours before non-essential purchases over a certain amount or move items that you feel compelled to buy to a wish list or save for later cart. Usually, the urge will fade by the time you get up for the day.
You can also try creating more of a physical inconvenience for yourself by charging your phone out of reach across the room, or by putting it in another room entirely.
If willpower is not enough there are always apps like Opal or Freedom that will lock down those tempting shopping apps on a schedule.
A practical way to assess where the urge to shop is coming from is to use the HALT check. Ask yourself: “Am I Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired.” These four states are frequently the culprit impairing your willpower and judgement. Identifying the true underlying discomfort helps you to better see that you really don’t need what’s in your cart.
The Werewolf or Shapeshifter (aka lifestyle creep)
Every time your income grows, this monster inflates your living expenses. A raise or a bonus mutates into a nicer car, bigger home, pricier dinners, or fancier vacations, leaving your savings rate untouched. When your discretionary spending increases alongside your income you save less, invest less, potentially making it difficult to create financial security.
How to Defend Against the Change
Start with ensuring your emergency fund is where it needs to be. Consider paying down any high-interest debt. Review your savings and financial goals.
Pay yourself first. The day a raise or bonus hits your account, automatically route a dedicated percentage of the increase into your investments or high-yield savings account before it ever touches your checking account.
Conduct a life audit around your finances and spending. Take an honest self-evaluation of your current habits, priorities, and routines to measure how well your everyday life aligns with your long-term goals and core values. Review your financials to identify any upgrades or services that aren’t adding real happiness to your life. Cut the things you don’t genuinely care about. Conducting this review helps you pinpoint areas of drain and redirect your energy toward what truly matters.
Use the “one-in, one-out” rule. Before adding a new subscription service or hobby expense, drop a lesser-used one.
Having more awareness of where your money is going can help you easily make intentional financial choices that align with your goals. Sometimes engaging with your finances and admitting to yourself that your money habits aren’t the most supportive can be scary, but your financial story doesn’t have to be a horror story.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading!!!
I hope today you’re met with kindness, especially from yourself.
💚💚💚
References
Cleveland Clinic. (2022, May 24). HALT: Pay attention to these four stressors on your recovery.https://health.clevelandclinic.org/halt-hungry-angry-lonely-tired
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