You ever brought something home, then instantly regretted that purchase.

Or maybe you feel like you're in this cycle of constantly acquiring

things, but still searching for true satisfaction in your life.

Well, what if you could understand the why behind that and why you

keep buying things you don't need?

And finally, break free from that cycle.

I want you to stick with me today 'cause I'm gonna show you exactly how

to make that happen on today's show.

Hey there.

Welcome back to your Daily, financially Confident Christian.

I'm Ralph and it's great to be with you again.

Today we continue on our pursuit, answering that question of how can I

become a financially confident Christian?

And we're in our series Beyond the Budget, finding Financial

Freedom through Intentional Living.

And if you've been following along, you know, so far we've covered contentment.

We talked about gratitude, we talked about spending by values, and today

we're gonna answer a more difficult question, and that is, why do I

keep buying things I don't need?

I think it's a great question because if you're like me, you feel this at

times, maybe you're feeling it right now, and think about it like this.

You go for one item at the grocery store.

This is the typical situation, right?

I gotta go in and just grab one thing, but then you come out with five.

Or maybe you're online shopping or you're walking through Target or something

and a deal just grabs your attention and you feel fantastic for the moment,

oh, these shoes are fantastic, or, or this, sure, oh, I gotta have this shirt.

Then later you just feel regret and you're stuck in this impulse buy cycle.

And I'm betting right now you're saying Ralph, that's familiar to

me and boy, that is frustrating.

And in the end All it does is adds clutter.

It drains our savings and it brings guilt.

'cause you're working hard, you're working so hard, I know you're working

hard, but your money just disappears.

And I'm gonna say something rather bold right now in my personal view.

The core issue is you're buying isn't aligned with your

values or intentional living.

That's really what it comes down to.

So here's the thing, and companies know how to manipulate your spending habits.

There are teams of people spending every minute to try to figure

out how to make you buy more, how to buy additional things.

And they prey on your emotions.

They prey on them.

That's their job.

They pray on boredom.

Hey, I've got nothing to do.

I'm bored.

They pray on insecurity.

Oh, you gotta have this.

They prey on stress.

And most of the time as we're doing this, we're trying to fill a void, a word.

We're trying to find some momentary joy in the tough situations in life.

Look at the book of Ecclesiastes chapter five.

Verse 10 says this, whoever loves money never has enough.

This too is meaningless.

Let's just park there for a second and let's, let's, let's dissect this.

Whoever loves money, the love of money, if that's where your

love is, what does the word say?

You never have enough.

Why is that?

Because you're buying to, so the motion or you're buying to gain approval,

those things will never satisfy you.

So how do you break out of it?

You recognize your triggers because once you recognize your triggers, you're

going to be able to respond wisely.

And listen, this isn't about shame.

This is about living in a sense of stewardship.

That's what this show is all about, and it's choosing intentionality,

that is the big word for this new series, choosing intentionality.

When you make that choice, it is powerful and it is absolutely freeing.

So now you're asking Ralph, what can we do?

How do you stop buying what you don't need?

And I kind of mentioned it a minute ago, the simple solution is to

identify your impulse triggers and create delayed base strategies.

I want you to remember this simple phrase, awareness.

Plus pause equals self-control.

I'm gonna say that one more time 'cause it's, you gotta

commit this to memory awareness.

You're aware and you take that pause that equals self-control.

So here's your one action step for today.

To really get to the point of breaking that cycle, I want you

to identify one or two impulse triggers, and I want you to do this.

I want you to apply this exercise to that.

When you do that, when you start thinking about those impulse triggers, think about

where you were and what you were feeling.

Let's talk about some of those examples right now.

So let's say it's the end of a day.

You're laying in bed, you're tired, and you're scrolling at night.

Okay?

So where were you?

You were laying in bed after a long day.

You got your phone in hand, okay, you got the picture.

What were you feeling?

Now if you're like many of us, you're feeling drained.

Been a long day.

This happened, this crisis at work, this crisis with the kids, and you're

just looking for some comfort or you're looking to just have a minute to escape.

So what's the trigger here?

The trigger here is pretty straightforward.

Emotional fatigue, that's a problem.

Late night scrolling on Instagram or Amazon, there's your trigger.

How about this one?

Maybe you're bored at work.

It's a mid-afternoon.

You're in that mid-afternoon slump.

So where were you?

You're sitting at the desk after a soy afternoon, you had the lunch.

And here like me, three o'clock comes, you're like, I need a nap.

So let's ask the next question.

How are you feeling?

Well, I'm feeling bored.

I'm feeling tired.

I'm feeling unmotivated.

So what do you do?

You're right there in front of your computer working.

Let's just say you working a desk job or you're right there, have your

phone, you're feeling boredom, and you got easy access to online shopping

during work breaks is a trigger.

This is my final example for today.

That fear of missing out pressure from friends.

Let's say you're in the middle of a group chat and you're buzzing about a

new sail, or one of your friends has got this new pair of jeans or whatever

the cool things are these days, or, or maybe somebody's going on a weekend trip.

That's where you were.

That's that's where you were, right?

What are you feeling now?

Well, Ralph, I was feeling left out.

I was feeling, I was afraid I was gonna miss something.

What's the trigger there?

Well.

social pressure, right?

And you're afraid you're gonna miss out on something you're wanting to fit in.

So here's the challenge for today.

Real simple.

I want you to just write down your top one or two triggers.

What are those triggers for you?

Is it that boredom at night?

Is that boredom in the middle afternoon?

Is that fear of missing out and that social pressure?

So now you know your triggers.

Well, here's the antidote to the triggers.

Here's how you really break outta that cycle.

I want you to create a simple rule for yourself.

What I'll call the pause, give you a couple examples.

Let's say that you're shopping online, Amazon, wherever you like to shop.

Maybe you're even on Facebook or some social media.

See these shoes?

You gotta have a $75 pair of shoes online.

But here's your rule.

You're gonna set this rule ahead of time.

You're gonna say, here's the deal.

I am not gonna buy anything till it sits in a cart for 48 hours.

So what do you do?

You add those shoes to your cart, you set the reminder for four, eight hours,

and then after two days you come back and you realize, guess what, Ralph?

I didn't really need them, and you're glad you didn't waste that money.

So that's one option.

The four eight hour for you.

Hey, maybe for you, it's a one week rule.

Here's another thing you can do.

That's what I call the three check filter.

So whenever you go to buy something, ask yourself these three questions.

Number one.

Does it align with my values?

We talked a lot about that yesterday.

Is it a value of simplicity?

Is it a value of financial freedom being outta debt, whatever.

It's ask yourself, does it align with my values?

Second question, is it in my budget?

Have I already allocated this money?

Is the money in my sames got where it is?

Is it in my budget?

So does it align my values?

Is it in my budget?

Third thing, do you truly need it or is this just an emotional buying situation?

There we go.

The pause, the three check filter.

I'm gonna throw one more at you 'cause I think this will really be impactful.

A lot of people don't think of this one.

This is Ralph's big pro tip for today.

Make it manual, What is that?

What does Ralph mean by that?

Here's what you want.

I want you to do, go to all your shopping app sites and remove your credit cards.

Don't even have 'em on the site.

Why?

'cause I want you to have extra effort in entering those details,

which is gonna give you space to think about, do I really need this?

'cause see, it's so easy.

It's easy for me.

Amazon's got three or four of my credit cards tied to it.

I can be wherever and just scroll.

Oh, beautiful.

I want that.

Click here, buy now.

That's what they want.

That's what the, that's what the store, that's what the retailers want you to do.

Put a little friction there for yourself.

Make it manual.

And here's a little bonus thing, maybe you wanna do this, have

what I call a no spend challenge.

Maybe pick a Saturday and say, I'm gonna play a game where I'm only

buying essentials on Saturdays.

Gas, groceries, things you have to have no coffee runs, no browsing Target to

just take a look, just no spend Saturday.

But I'm gonna add a little piece to that and I'm, giving a couple little

extra things today, but I want you to write down the urges that you feel.

And at the end of the week, go back and look at those urges and write

down how much money you saved.

Boy, that is going to be impactful to you.

How about we pray together, Father God, we just want to thank you for

your provision in our life, Lord.

And we confess, Lord, that we often buy from emotion, we don't do it

with intention, Lord, we don't put it through that three test.

So Lord, we just ask you right now to help us spot our triggers, help

us see what those things are and strengthen that self-control, that

awareness, pause, self-control.

And Lord, just teach us to find joy and teach us to find peace in you,

not in purchases, not in stuff.

And bigger than that, Lord, let us help our finances reflect your purpose in our

lives, and we ask this in confidence.

In Jesus' name, Amen.

Listen to me.

Break the buying cycle brings peace and it brings freedom.

So know your triggers.

Pause before your purchases and challenge yourself today and listen, if this

show has been impactful to you, if this specific episode has made a difference

to you, I wanna encourage you right now, share this episode with someone else.

A lot of people are dealing with financial cycles and financial stress

and the shame that goes along with that.

And this show, this particular episode, could really reach out to them.

So send 'em a text and say, Hey, I listened to this guy Ralph.

Here's a link to his website.

It's financially.

Confident christian.com or go right onto your podcast episode, or maybe

you're watching this on YouTube and just click share and send it to

somebody that could be impacted by this.

I also wanna give you a free gift.

If you go to my website, again, that's financially

confident christian.com/master.

You get a free copy of my book, it's called Mastering Your Finances.

It's a short read, but it is super impactful.

I'm gonna encourage you to do that again.

That's it.

Financially confident christian.com/master.

Now, tomorrow on the show, we're gonna talk about how to stop chasing

what others have and break free from that cycle of comparison.

Kind of goes along with what we're talking about today.

So I'm gonna encourage you, don't miss it.

Now, let's all go out there and be financially confident.

Christians, you can do this.

I truly believe in you.

Believe in yourself.

Stay financially savvy.

God bless you, and you have a great day today.