7 Life Changing Strategies to Change Your Spending Habits - Episode 1

hello and welcome everyone for those of you who don't know me I'm Joshua Becker and I want to both inspire you and help you own less and live more to accomplish that over the next few videos I want to take a deep dive into an important skill overcoming consumerism this is such an important topic that rather than quickly flying through some points I've decided to divide this teaching into a four-part series I'll be releasing ing one video every week over the next month now to get the most out of the series I recommend watching One video taking a few days to intentionally apply the steps and then returning for the next video of course if you're watching these videos as they get released once per week you'll only have that option but if you're finding this series for the first time after the entire series was released as many of you will or if you're coming back to rewatch these as many of you will you'll have the option to watch them all right in a row but I did design them to be watched slowly and deliberately applying each of the ideas as they are presented before moving to the next but the choice of course is up to you so with that being said it is my pleasure to introduce you to an incredibly influential series seven lifechanging strategies to change your spending habits for the next four weeks I'm moving beyond surface level decluttering to a different type of hard work embracing the philosophy of wanting less this series is about breaking free from the endless cycle of consumerism that affects so many aspects of Our Lives it's not just about owning less but legitimately about wanting less because this is where the greatest benefits of minimalism are discovered oh sure it's amazing to declutter your home get rid of everything you don't need and find more focus and intention in life but if after minimizing your possessions you just fill your home back up with stuff then the benefits are short-lived the greatest potential of owning less is not found in just decluttering but in wanting less both today and in the future unfortunately though this process of changing our spending habits and overcoming consumerism is a different process than minimizing a room or a space or even an entire home overcoming consumerism is about changing how we interact with the world around us it's a little bit like the difference between going on a diet to lose 20 lbs and entirely changing your eating habits for the rest of your life those Pursuits require a different mindset they're both good ideas but changing your eating habits for the long run has the greatest benefit to your life so that's what I want to talk about in this four-part series seven life-changing strategies to change your spending habits each video in this series will explore two vital strategies that all of us can Embrace and employ right away and I want to take time to explain each of them give practical steps that all of us can take right now and then give the steps room to breathe in our lives both for us to reflect on them and provide opportunity to apply the Practical steps before moving to the next one in this week's video I'm going to explain the first Strat strategy that we need to overcome consumerism and change our spending habits next week I'll dive into strategies number two and number three and then so on all right are you ready if so let's change all of our lives for the better the first key to changing your spending habits and overcoming consumerism in your life is what I call recognize and articulate the benefit of owning less the more we recognize how our life improves by owning fewer things the easier it is to overcome consumerism going forward and I don't want you to miss either part of this step both recognizing and articulating the benefits Dawson tropman once said this thoughts disentangle themselves when they pass through the lips or the fingertips speaking alloud the benefits you are experiencing by owning less will help you understand them even more so we will both recognize and articulate the benefits of owning less my own journey into minimalism started unexpectedly one Saturday morning when my neighbor introduced me to the idea I was immediately sold on the idea of owning less and by Monday I had started a Blog called becoming minimalist where I could Journal our journey into owning less and what we were learning one of the reoccurring features on the blog in the early days was what I called benefits of minimalism every time I noticed a new benefit I shared it on the website for example one of the first areas we decluttered was our living room which had shelves filled with decorations these included old books that were more for show than reading decorative items that only matched our furniture and several figurines that held little or none personal value after decluttering we kept only the items on those shelves with actual meaning and the result was striking the shelves held about half of the items but everything we kept held twice as much value after decluttering the shelves I decided to dust them which as you can probably imagine took only half the time that it used to do that work the experience was a revelation to me owning fewer things makes cleaning easier and as someone who doesn't particularly love cleaning this was great it became a benefit of minimalism owning less means less cleaning I have to do I also started noticing other benefits owning less was less stressful it saved time it saved money every time I noticed a new benefit I wrote about it on the blog about a year and a half into my minimalism journey I was interviewed for my very first newspaper article by the Albany Times Union in New York the reporter asked a number of questions over email and I spent quite a few hours even days trying to get every answer just right that was until I got to the final question the final question the reporter asked was this do you think minimalism is just a phase that you're going through or do you think it's something you'll keep doing for the rest of your life and it was by far the easiest question of the entire interview it took me just seconds to answer no I am never going back to my old lifestyle I had just spent hours answering all these questions about why we decided to become minimalist and listing all the positive impact it had had on our lives when I got to the final question after listing all the amazing benefits we had experienced owning less it was a no-brainer to answer why would I ever go back to living the way I used to that is why the first strategy to changing our spending habits and overcoming consumerism is to recognize and articulate the benefits of owning less as you minimize your possessions notice how it affects you notice how easy it becomes to clean to get ready in the morning to tidy up in the evening notice the money you're saving how it changes your view of the world and your potential in it and every time you notice something say it out loud to a child a spouse or even say it to yourself the more you do the less inclined you will be to accumulate more in the future let me give you three application steps to put into practice this week do these and it will begin to change your shopping habits number one observe and reflect walk around your home this week identify areas where reducing clutter has had a positive impact bring a notepad with you and write them down as you notice number two share your journey with one person this week talk about the changes you're making in your home you can mention it the next time you see your parents you can mention it to other parents par at your kids play date the next time you're talking to a friend at church or you're out for dinner just start with you know what I've been doing at home sharing your story will give you new opportunities to explain the benefits and your why behind your decision to own less and then number three create a benefits of owning less list so don't throw away that list that you started in Step number one keep it close and whenever you see something new that is beneficial about owning less add it to your list you'll be surprised how long your list will grow okay there you have it strategy number one to changing your spending habits this is of course just the beginning take some time and intentionally apply this step and then join me for the next video where we'll dive into strategy number two and number three of course you can always just remember to join me here on the channel if you want or better yet subscribe and turn on notifications to stay updated on this series as it is released together we're not just learning to live with less we're learning to want less opening ourselves to a richer more fulfilling life so I'll see you again real soon [Music]

Channel: Joshua Becker

Views: 129,068

Keywords: spending habits, finance, how to fix shopping addiction, how to stop spending so much, how to stop shopping, Joshua Becker, minimalism, minimalist, becoming minimalist, simple living, decluttering motivation, minimalist living, decluttering and organizing, how to get rid of stuff, clutter

Id: uXfhSUZbJBw

Length: 11min 47sec (707 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 06 2024