Confessions of an Amazon Addict

Logie143

(I may have mainly used Amazon for the alliteration, but it does take up a large part of my spending!)

Here I am again, it seems. another lightbulb moment and another night figuratively beating myself around the head with the lamp attached to it. I've always had a penchant for spending and I'm a marketers dream. That new product will TOTALLY change my life! That new game that definitely isn't exactly the same as the one i've already got will be REVOLUTIONARY! (Looking at you, EA). But as I sit here, on the cusp of the dreaded "4-0" nothing has really changed, except now I have more money to waste, more responsibilities and many, many more worries.

Now, I'm sure with a lot of therapy I could find the true reason for this spending, but I think ultimately it's all about the dopamine hit. And wow doesn't getting a package at the door make that even sweeter? I don't really drink, take any illegal substance, gamble or anything like that so this it seems is my little zing of dopamine.

So what's the situation? My finances aren't too bad - I have a really good salary, a little savings and most importantly my family have what they need, but I know I'm wasting so much money on absolute rubbish. I saw a quote somewhere, or heard or it or something about how some people who earn 70k live like they earn 100k, while others live like they earn 50k. I'm definitely in the first camp, and i NEED to be in the second! My anxiety will thank me for living further into my means and creating a weighted comfort blanket of savings.

I fully appreciate that many on here are in much more difficult circumstances than I am, and I am incredibly grateful for what I have but I know it wouldn't take much to go wrong for the scales to start tipping quickly against me.

I'm going to try and use this diary (Unlike the last one I apparently gave up on) to act as an outlet, to let out my thoughts, worries and challenges while I tackle kicking this addiction. This diary is focused on my "Spending money" and I'm going to work slowly in the background on the other things but this is the biggest challenge with so many mental and emotional links but the benefits could be huge.

So far I have calculated a "Comfortable" monthly spend of £500 for everything that we don't budget strictly for - mortgage, insurance, food, cars etc. This is basically for anything I want - clothes, coffees, lunches out, lego, printer filament and anything else.

Tomorrow's tasks:
- Set up a method of tracking every penny I spend
- Remove all but one card from my apple wallet and amazon account
- Research some non-spendy and healthy ways to get that zingy dopamine

If you've got this far, I salute you and and i'm deeply grateful!

in_need_of_direction

Can I add to your task list and suggest that you unsubscribe from marketing emails too?  Good luck on your journey 

ButterCheese

I used to be like this too.  A colleague called it the "wantsies".  I used to have the wantsies all the time, be it cycling gear, home tech, guitars etc.  I set myself a limit of £200/month for a new gizmo or gadget, and if I wanted anything more than that I'd have to save up over as many months as it takes.  It seemed to work, and I'm glad I did it because now my situation has changed and we have very little money leftover after our astronomical monthly outgoings.

I won't go into detail, but if you read up on inner peace and being content, it should come from the inside and not predominantly from external things.  I've worked on this a lot, to the point now where I'm happy doing anything.  For me that mostly means doing DIY, playing music or just having a project on the go where completion brings satisfaction.  I can take or leave a holiday, or a new car, I'm not bothered either way, as long as I enjoy my weekends and time off doing something I enjoy that hopefully doesn't cost much

Logie143

in_need_of_direction said:

Can I add to your task list and suggest that you unsubscribe from marketing emails too?  Good luck on your journey 

Absolutely, good idea! There's just SO many of them  

Logie143

ButterCheese said:

I used to be like this too.  A colleague called it the "wantsies".  I used to have the wantsies all the time, be it cycling gear, home tech, guitars etc.  I set myself a limit of £200/month for a new gizmo or gadget, and if I wanted anything more than that I'd have to save up over as many months as it takes.  It seemed to work, and I'm glad I did it because now my situation has changed and we have very little money leftover after our astronomical monthly outgoings.

I won't go into detail, but if you read up on inner peace and being content, it should come from the inside and not predominantly from external things.  I've worked on this a lot, to the point now where I'm happy doing anything.  For me that mostly means doing DIY, playing music or just having a project on the go where completion brings satisfaction.  I can take or leave a holiday, or a new car, I'm not bothered either way, as long as I enjoy my weekends and time off doing something I enjoy that hopefully doesn't cost much

Thanks, it's good to know I'm not on my own. I'm fairly sure it's a mental/emotional thing and trying to fulfill it with stuff. I'll do some more targeted reading on that 

itsthelittlethings

Subscribing.

Logie143

Total spend: £7

Well day 1 is almost in the books and it's been really productive. But that doesn't suprise me. It's new, it's exciting, it's fresh. Let's see how long that lasts!

I have...

- Removed my main bank card from my phone and amazon
- left my second card on with my monthly budget in it
- Switched my savings to a higher interest account
- Paid everything I needed to
- Got a way of tracking my spend through the bank app sorted

Bonus points:
- Removed a LOT of marketing emails (thanks, @in_need_of_direction!) - If anyone isn't sure how to do this in outlook it's File>Settings>Email>Subscriptions. I can't believe how many I had! Also, be careful if you decide to nuke them all at once, microsoft locks yours account because they think the activity is suspicious. That was fun!

I had to buy a cake topper for my wife so she can make a birthday cake for a family member, so that's not too bad.

Tonight is doing some of my exciting assignment for my masters, reading up on inner peace and trying to find a bit of it....easy!


Oh and edit...also had my first day back (at home) at work. Got the year planned out quite nicely, put a few digital fires out. Pretty good!

Logie143

Total Spend: £17.50

I'm definitely feeling in a positive state about this journey and I've been spending some time thinking about what the outcome of this will do to our lives, and that's helped me reframe the journey as exciting instead of negative. I watched "The Minimalists: Less is Now" on netflix last night which has some really helpful ideas and perspectives.

I had a few spends yesterday - £6.50 to satiate my nicotine fixation and £4 because my wife needed parking money (although she did say she would pay me back!)

We go again!

Working_Mum

One of the key things I did when I started on my debt free journey (back in 2009, awful divorce, flaky ex on the £'s front and variable self employed income, £90k debt and £280k mortgage) was to take a long hard look at what i already had and corralled it into sensible places so I could retrieve it when required so I removed the need for any impulse purchases because I couldn't find things..

I also strived to reduce waste of any kind and if I had to throw anything away I gave it a monetary value - if I threw away an avocado I imagined throwing £1 in the bin! You wouldn't throw cash in the bin so why waste stuff too!!

When I looked at my belongings and felt a bit overwhelmed with the job in hand I would announce (thanks to someone on this forum) "all this used to be cash" and I'd imagine money piled up and it being wasted. I surround myself with stuff I absolutely love now so everywhere I look I feel joy.

I also brought in a 48 hour rule - I popped things in online baskets but I waited 48 hours before pressing the "buy" button - this was super simple and I was often surprised to return to Am4zon (or wherever) and find items in my basket I had completely forgotten about. I shopped with cash only for many years as my budget was so tight I couldn't spend anymore - my kids don't recall the hard times like I do they remember fun and laughter and love.

I think the key lesson I learned was that I needed to live my whole life mindfully and getting to grips with my finances was a big part of what I needed to do. My 2026 self is very proud and happy of choices I made 10/15 years ago - every year (and quarter actually for a couple of years) I wrote down fiscal goals and benchmarked every thing I did against the goals - if what I was about to do took me away from my goals I really stopped and thought long and and hard if it was the correct decision.  

Good luck with your journey - so much is about getting your head in the game.

((WM))