I hope you're having a lovely day today and I hope it gets even better for watching this video.

Today, we're chatting all about the tips and tricks, little small micro habits you can implement to stop shopping addiction, to stop compulsive buying, overspending, and just become more intentional about where your hard-earned money goes.

Most of us work really hard for our money, so it's such a shame to then just carelessly spend it on things that aren't really meaningful, things that you don't need, and things that at some point, like after maybe a few weeks, you don't even want anymore.

Becoming more conscious and intentional about where your money goes not only obviously positively affects your financial situation, your financial future, but it also makes you feel like you're living a more intentional life.

And it's honestly liberating to not be in this constant buying consumerism trap.

It feels like a hamster wheel.

It's never enough.

You keep buying and keep buying.

There's always a new thing and a new thing that you need and want.

You're just never satisfied.

It's not a good plan for a long-term happy future, a satisfied future.

Like, it's obviously not getting you there.

If you constantly need to buy and buy and buy to fill that craving or that void or whatever it is, we'll get into that.

And it's honestly so empowering to get out of that hamster wheel and use that time, money, and energy on actually building a life that's meaningful to you, that you're excited and happy to wake up to, instead of waking up to a bunch of stuff that's just been collecting dust.

So yeah, that's what we're chatting about today.

I have over 10 tips that really, really helped me because I've definitely experienced this before.

Like, this was kind of a semi-big issue in my life, if you will.

And I've got a plan to get you out of there as well.

If you're new to my channel, hi, I'm Nika.

Welcome.

I make videos all about self-improvement and I like to make them very, like, actionable.

Here are the tips, concrete steps you can take to actually create a real change that you're really going to notice.

So if that works for you, I would love for you to stick around and subscribe.

And you can also check out my social media if you want to hang out with me more.

But that's enough yapping.

Let's get into all the tips and tricks.

The first thing we need to do is become very aware of what the problem is in the first place.

We want to get as much information about it as possible so we can then actually tackle it.

One thing I really recommend doing is a spending audit.

This is where you would go back and see where your money is going, how much of it is going towards different areas of your life.

I talked all about this in my last video.

So if you want to do this properly, create a budget and really start tracking your spending,

I highly recommend checking that out.

And then you're going to highlight these pain points.

For me, that was eating out.

And then also shopping for clothes and beauty, like makeup, skincare, all of that.

So just write it down so you know what you're working with.

And then you're going to investigate when you have this really strong need to buy something, to compulsively shop, to overspend.

For me, for example, I noticed that a lot of it came from boredom when I felt like things were stagnant and there wasn't enough, like, excitement in my life.

So that's when I would really get into this mood of, like, I need to have a whole new closet,

I need to have this new thing, that new thing, just because it gave me that hit of excitement.

It's so, so, so helpful to write it down.

First of all, an awareness of a problem is a problem half solved.

Just having this awareness of, like,

I have a strong need for shopping right now.

Do I actually want to buy a whole new closet or am I just bored with my life and missing excitement?

If it's that, then maybe I can, you know, call up a friend and do something fun with them or, you know, you find other ways to deal with it.

An amazing question you can ask yourself when you're trying to figure this out is, if I'm being honest with myself right now, what problem in my life am I trying to solve by overbuying, consumption, shopping, fill in the blank?

Another thing we really need to look at is your values.

Like, what is actually important to you?

It's not that instant gratification.

Like, these are the things that actually create a long-term satisfaction, joy, happiness, whatever.

And also, how do you want your money and time to serve you?

We are all different.

So it's important to consider those things.

A budget and becoming financially aware is not about cutting yourself off from all the joys of life.

It's just about creating a plan tailored to you of how you're going to spend your hard-earned money.

For me, I've really realized that I want to spend my hard-earned money on experiences versus things.

I want to create lifetime memories with the people that I love, experience this beautiful world, things that will actually bring me, again, long-lasting happiness instead of things that, you know, make me happy in the moment when I buy them and maybe for like a day or two.

And then we'll just, most of them, collect dust or be pushed somewhere in my closet and forgotten about.

And also, a really big one for me is investing in myself.

Like going to those Pilates classes that, you know, they cost a bit of money, but it's, again, it's worth it to me.

And also, like learning about myself, learning more about the things that I'm interested in.

Like that is a very worthy investment for me.

One of my favorite platforms you can do this on is Skillshare and they're actually sponsoring this video.

Plus, they've given us an amazing deal, which is fitting for this video.

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Another amazing thing that can really help you get started is to have a little reset because you've probably had these spending habits for a long time.

So sometimes a good reset can really make wonders, create wonders, I don't know.

So one thing you can do that will very, very clearly show you your habits and tendencies and these needs to buy and spend is a low or a no spend month.

So that means you'll have a month where you only spend money on absolute essentials.

So that means groceries, that means, you know, your electric bills, your rent, essentials.

So you're not going to be spending money on clothes, shopping, beauty, books, whatever.

You can, of course, make this tailored to you.

It doesn't have to be a full no-buy month.

You should make it so that you can stick to it.

So if you know that you'll run out of your conditioner, you can plan that into your low-buy month.

Or let's say you read a lot of books on your Kindle and you know that you'll probably download four, just plan that into it so that you can actually follow through because that's going to give you a lot of confidence and going to make you feel good to achieve something.

And doing this low-buy or no-buy month is going to help you so much again to see these habits and to have a little reset and then you can create a new plan for the future.

Another thing that really, really helped me is a reset of my stuff, like doing a big declutter.

I had so many clothes lying around.

I cannot tell you the amount of bags of clothes that I had to get rid of and skincare and expired makeup and so many things.

And it was such a wake-up call because I could see roughly how much money that was.

It was like throwing money away, like just goodbye, it's meaningless, who cares.

And it was wild, like there was thousands of euros in those boxes and it hurt my soul.

And these were things that I was so excited about and now a few months later,

I'm just throwing them away.

I donated them, but you know what I mean, like it just was wild.

So that's another thing you can do.

And again, it will also help you to see what you actually find meaningful and important.

Obviously, I don't value most clothes that much if I'm just willy-nilly getting rid of them all the time.

So that was honestly a lot, but highly recommend.

Honestly gave me the wake-up call that I needed.

The next thing you're going to do is make a whole list of things you are no longer buying.

So this is your no-buy list.

If you need some inspiration, some ideas, there's lots of YouTube videos about things I'm no longer buying.

I am happy to make one.

If you guys want to see it, let me know.

But by doing these evaluations before, you probably will already have a bit of, you know, an inkling about the things you no longer need or are no longer worthy to you.

Like maybe you have thousands of shirts and jeans, so that will go on that list.

Maybe you've realized that you've consistently been buying new foundations, even though you have one that you love and it's like your trustworthy product, but you keep trying new ones.

Like maybe that would go on your list.

And then you're allowed to buy a new one when you run out of it.

That is one additional rule I gave myself to not purchase items when I still have them.

So if I already have a shampoo and it hasn't run out yet,

I'm not going to buy a new one.

And once it runs out, I can buy the one that I want.

So again, make a whole list of things you are no longer going to buy.

It's just going to give you some good healthy lines and boundaries, and that is always a good thing.

Another very important one is to have strong money goals.

That's going to help you because you're going to feel like there's a reason for you doing all of this and limiting yourself and, you know, creating new habits.

That's not always easy.

So it gives you a reason to do all of that, to go through all of that, and it makes it worthy, right?

If you've never really properly researched finances, you don't invest, you don't really know what you're doing.

I've been there, trust me.

Then your first money goal should be building an emergency fund that is basically a savings account with money in it for emergencies only.

So I went through all of that in my last video again.

But after you've achieved that, maybe your goal is to pay off your debt in a certain amount of time or save enough money for a down payment on a house or invest a certain amount of money.

That's really, really going to help you so, so, so much.

And it's going to keep you motivated as well, which is very important.

Another thing that we've already touched on a little bit is tracking your money budgeting.

That is so helpful because you actually see where your money goes consistently every single month and then you can adjust it.

So maybe one month you realize you spent way too much money on something, so it's something to be aware of for next month.

And another thing when you're tracking your money,

I can't even explain to you how satisfying it is to see the percentage of how much you put aside and save increase.

Like, it's almost like a game and a challenge for you to keep increasing it.

And then on the months where I do spend a little bit more,

I'm like, why did I do that?

I could put all that money I wasted on these pants that I don't even care about anymore, that I didn't even remember I bought, on my savings, on investing, on whatever.

Like, it is so much more meaningful.

It makes you feel so much better.

So that's another amazing benefit of tracking your money and having a budget.

This next one is honestly a game changer, I think.

I think this is maybe the best tip in this video.

It's to have a smart wish list.

Now you need to listen to me very carefully, okay?

Because you can do this wrong.

You can just create a wish list, put all the things that you want in there, and then consume more because of the wish list.

So we're not doing that, okay?

What you're gonna do is you're gonna write down the item you want.

So let's say you really want or need a new winter jacket.

So you would write winter jacket.

And then you're gonna write the amount of money you're willing to pay for it.

So this is a line that you're not going to cross, okay?

It's the upper limit.