Stop spending so much money

Stop spending so much moneyStop spending so much moneyWere spending too much money (begone Amazon Prime, you evil immediate gratification enabler) and part of the reason is its just so incredibly easy.Where there was once only the vorkaufsrecht of making a day of heading to a store and ponying up your hard-earned cash for a well-researched or much-needed item, you can now scroll, click, and have something brand new and shiny delivered to your door in under an hour. In the recent book, Dollars and Sense How We Misthink Money and How to Spend Smarter, behavioral economist Dan Ariely, and co-author Jeff Kreisler break down some of the reasons were just so stupid about spending.In an interview with CNN Money about trying to fix our spending, Ariely said, We can wait for someone to solve it for us, or you can try to do your own financial hacking yourself.Here are some spend less hacks worth thinking about1) Stop making it so easyIf buying that needless widget meant there was more of a pai n point involved in the process, we might notlage do it quite that often or quite that easily. But since its easier than ever to buy, we do. Try disconnecting auto pay from your accounts. Or give yourself a new accountability tool. What if you had to post every single spend on your Google calendar and highlight it in red? Spend shaming might really become a thing.2) Highlight your savings not spendingAriely mentions that while we share every detail of our shopping lives angeschlossen or with friends, we dont spend that much time talking about how much weve saved or invested. Maybe its time to seriously change that collective conversation.3) Stop going digitalBelieve it or not, while paying your bills automatically may seem like the best approach, you might be making it way too easy to overspend. In the CNN Money article, Ariely advises cutting down on digital spending and instead starting to pay attention to larger costs. Another tip he offers is using a pre-paid debit card and load ing it up on Mondays, so you can best prepare for the week ahead.But its not all bad news on the spending front. Personal finance expert KyleNakatsuji, CEO and founder of auto insurance startup Clearcover, said that not all of us have become less mindful of how we spend in fact, in some ways, were more mindful of how we spend.With advances in financial technology related to planning, budgeting and analysis, theres an increasing amount of information available to help us make better money-saving decisions, Nakatsuji says. But somehow, we dont seem to be making those smarter decisions.These same kinds of advances have also made it easier than ever to spend money, and continue to spend it. Online shopping is a great example of this, Nakatsuji said. The root cause, however, is the decrease in transaction friction - think of Amazons one-click buy - the increasing ease of setting up products and services is a double-edged sword.Less stupid spendingNakatsuji said that it isnt only the lu xuries that cause overspendingOne place thats typically overlooked is compulsory services, like insurance.Think of it as a different kind of stupid spending. Most things people think of as stupid are unnecessary purchases while we think its equally silly to overpay for things youre required to have like car insurance. In fact, saving money on things youre forced to purchase can create the financial freedom to rationally buy the other things you really want, meaning youll naturally make fewer bad decisions.Dont blame it on MillennialsThough it can be easy to blame digital natives for rampant online spending habits, it isnt quite that black or white (or lack of green). I think spending habits vary more by the person than by demographic because people are intrinsically motivated in similar ways despite their age, Nakatsuji said. For me, its more about the personality than the group. Youll find people across the different generations who place a high value on material goods or experienc es (and therefore may spend more freely), just as youll find a mixed range of people who value frugality.For that reason, its also wise to try to spend less based on your personality type and spending inclinations, rather than the generational labels.