How To Use Your Cravings To Save Money

Living and enjoying life to the fullest is a great thing. It’s great when you don’t have to say No to your wishes and do what you feel like whenever you feel like. But sometimes our whims and craving are just that, and they can act against us and our goals in a sense.

I don’t like feeling deprived. I used to deprive myself from favourite foods which I absolutely loved eating when I suffered my case of Orthorexia, but ever since it’s over, deprivation and I don’t get along.It feels great to be putting myself first and saying yes to things that I want. But focusing on not depriving myself and not denying myself pleasure can have an opposite effect.

It feels great to be putting myself first and saying yes to things that I want. But focusing on not depriving myself and not denying myself pleasure can have an opposite effect.

The Mind Games

To give you an example of how it works: I might badly crave an ice cream or a can of soda, which I don’t even like that much, but all of a sudden I get this craving and the battle starts inside myself. My rational mind says I don’t need it. My other mind, the one that’s managing my cravings, says I do. Then I jump in with the third part of my post-orthorexic mind and say that I should not deprive myself of what I want. Deprivation is not healthy.

But my rational mind knows full well that my craving for the ice cream is just a whim that will pass before I’m even half-through the ice cream. And before you think I’ll say this: no, it has nothing to do with calories, sugar or fat. It’s just the way I am. The way we are.Sometimes I want a taste of something but quickly realise after I’ve had it that I didn’t really want it that much. I don’t enjoy it that much for that matter. So acting on a whim is just the money wasted on something that would have passed in just a few minutes.

Sometimes I want a taste of something but quickly realise after I’ve had it that I didn’t really want it that much. I don’t enjoy it that much for that matter. So acting on a whim is just the money wasted on something that would have passed in just a few minutes.

Real Desire or a Whim?

When I studied nutrition, we were taught that cravings come in waves. If you don’t act on it straight away and decide to wait it out instead, you may notice in 15 to 20 minutes that you don’t want it as much anymore, if not at all. This is how our minds work, and this is exactly why we tend to get disappointed when we finally have it. This is not something exclusive to pregnant women, contrary to belief, but the hormones rather intensify this perfectly human tendency.

To tell a real desire for something from a whim you must give it time, try to wait it out. That’s how minimalists tell you to treat your desires to buy something for your home or your wardrobe. If you are in the shop, you are supposed to go home without the item and wait for a day or two. If you still want it, then go and get it. If you don’t – you didn’t need it in the first place.

With sweets and other food cravings it is somewhat similar. Just try and wait it out for a couple of hours. If after that time you still want it, you better go and make yourself happy. If you happen to forget about that craving after the time has passed, then forget it. You didn’t need it.

How to Use Your Cravings To Save Money

This is easy. And it actually saves you from the disappointing realisation that you didn’t want the thing you just paid for, thinking it was your biggest wish.

Basically, you play the waiting game, but with a twist.

Appoint a jar or a piggy bank to be your ‘Whims Jar’. Now every time you crave something, think of how much that thing costs and put the money in the jar. If after a while you decide that you still want it, by all means, get the money from the jar and use it. If not, leave the money in the jar.

After a few cravings that have passed on their own, you’d be surprised how much money you could have spent on nothing.

You can apply this same rule for any other things you think you want, like with the minimalists’ approach to clothes and home decór. If you were going to waste the money anyway, they are much better off tucked away in that jar than in your pocket. In the case you need money for something else, you can take them out – they are yours to spend. But it’s nice to have them available and not wasted.

This short post is definitely not my usual style, but I just wanted to share it. I hope it helps you to avoid disappointments and money-wasting.

Sending balance your way,

Lana x