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How Long Does It Take To Unlearn Bad Financial Habits?

How Long Does It Take To Unlearn Bad Financial Habits?  I guess I should have named the site UnlearnBadFinanancialHabits.com but that would just be too long.  But anyway I digress.  Just type in the the above post title in Google and it will show a ton of pages telling you exactly how to do so.  Many methods are described with differing time frames promising the same thing.  Do this list, perform number 1, then 2, then 3, etc., etc..  Then when you get to the end - poof!  Problem solved.  That would be great and all- if we were all robots.

The mind is very resistant to change especially if it has been repeatedly shown the same process over and over again.  See something fancy in the store?  Need to buy it.  Don’t have the money for it?  That’s fine - use the credit card.  Can’t pay off the balance?  No problem - Just pay the minimum every month-as long as payments are sent monthly it’ll be OK.   Credit card maxed out?  Apply for a new one.  Oh look!  Another fancy toy/gizmo/appliance at the store…you get deeper in the hole,  unhealthy financial habits are reinforced, the cycle repeats itself.  The cycle of bad financial habits.  Which is why I believe “unlearning” something as ingrained into your subconscious can’t be done in a week, a month, or even a year.  Especially if these behaviors are all you’ve ever known.  So what is one to do?

You learn alternative habits of course.  And when you do, substitute it for the unhealthy ones.  For example, if you like going out to the movies and eating out every Friday night, rent a movie and cook dinner at home.  If you like browsing the ads on the Sunday paper to look for “deals”.  Clip coupons instead(Don’t clip coupons just for the sake of it of course.  Do it for the items that you actually need.)  Like playing the lottery every week?  Read a book from the library instead.  See something you like that you would like to get?  Don’t buy it outright, think about it first, wait a few days and then revisit it. 

Sounds simple doesn’t it?  It is.  The idea is to give your brain an alternative to what it is used to.  This way you don’t go into auto-pilot.  In the beginning you need to make a concentrated effort to follow your alternative habits.  When faced with a decision - you’ll initially try to resolve it with your auto-pilot responses (Wanting a new ipod because it has more hard drive space).  Don’t.  Instead, take a deep breath, think about it and find an alternative solution (remove songs from your ipod that you don’t listen to anymore to free up hard drive space.)  With time, the more these alternative habits are used, it starts to take precedence in your decision making process.  Eventually they become the norm, and you’ll wonder how in the world you did the things you used to do

Thanks for reading.

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