As a follow up to Tommy’s post about cutting back on the small things, I wanted to share some methods that help with giving up habitual routines, such as the daily Starbucks that Tommy mentioned.

Don’t even consider it an option

I used to eat fast food for about 3 lunches a week.  The whole time I never really wanted to buy fast food.  Fast food isn’t healthy and can easily add up to over $50 a month.  But it’s easy, it tastes good, and you don’t have to spend any time packing a lunch.  This past lent I decided to give up fast food.  Suddenly, breaking the habit was super easy.  When I gave it up, I no longer had the choice to buy fast food.  My options changed: pack a lunch or starve.  Faced with this choice, I always found time to pack a lunch.  After lent, I kept the same mindset and fast food lunches now seem like a distant memory.  Lent is a great time to break habits and regain self control.  However, even if you aren’t religious or don’t observe lent, the ways to break bad habits are the same.  What I did for lent was to make a resolution.

Before making a resolution, decide whether you really want to

The key to success is to make a firm resolution.  It’s impossible to have a firm resolution if you aren’t convinced you WANT to stick with it.  If you think, “I’m giving up Starbucks, but I love it SO much I don’t think I can do it for long” then don’t even bother making a resolution.  This kind of mindset will only waste your energy and cause you to enjoy your Starbucks less.  If you love Starbucks, but for one reason or another you also want to stop buying it, then you have to really think about the reasons you want it as well as the reasons you don’t want it.  In your analysis, include the pain and suffering you’ll endure by giving up the habit but also the rewards.  Decide if you actually want to kick the habit.  If you decide that you do want to kick the habit then keep reading…

The glass is always half empty

Stop thinking about it and/or think negatively about it.  I’m sure you’ll start thinking about going Starbucks if you were in the habit of going there daily.  Try not to, but when you do, do not think positivity of it or how good it would taste.  Instead remind yourself of all the reasons you resolved to give up Starbucks.

Substitution

If the above ideas don’t work, it may be because there is a void that needs to be filed with something else.  Try substituting your Starbucks.  If you enjoy the morning coffee but don’t like the cost of Starbucks, try brewing your own coffee at home.   If it’s the cup you like, buy and use disposable coffee cups that look and feel like Starbucks coffee cups.  If your habit is coke, try bottled water instead.  While these substitutions might not be as good as the real thing, they may be a step in the right direction and should solve the main issue you had with your habit in the first place.

Baby steps: asceticism and self-control

If you are still resolved to break the habit but can’t, start with baby steps.  No Starbucks on Thursdays!  After you master this simple rule, you will have developed some more discipline and can expand it to another day of the week until your habit is broken or changed to a more moderate level that you are happy with.  Baby steps like this are acts of asceticism.

Asceticism is truly effective for gaining self control and breaking any bad habit.  In fact the above methods presuppose that you have a certain level of self control.  If you still can’t kick the habit after using baby steps, then I doubt you really WANT to.  However, if you really do and can’t even manage to give it up on Thursday, then deny yourself other treats.  Start out easy if you have little or no self-control.  For example, don’t listen to the radio for the first 5 minutes of your commute home, only take a half-serving of dessert tonight, etc.  Once you’ve developed a small amount of self-control, you should be able to complete the baby step above.

Regardless of your habits, it’s a good habit to practice asceticism daily.  Just once a day, deny yourself something that you want.  Don’t let this practice lead to a feeling of guilt whenever you are enjoying yourself.  For example, after refusing to partake in the donuts that your boss brought in, feel free to enjoy everything else that day.  Self-control is the key to personal finance.  This is because personal finance often requires denying yourself some luxuries and/or leisure time.

Freedom

After you break a bad habit, you are more free to avoid that habit.  Your emotions will no longer dictate your budget in this area or in other areas as much.   I found that while I was only spending about $50 a month on fast food, this unwanted spending lead to unwanted spending in other areas as well.  Once I was able to control this, it became easier for me to control spending in other areas.

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