How to Stop Spending Money and Start Saving with Cleo

Before we get into it, want a shot at $300?

No stranger to the impulsive buy? Head over to Instagram before 01/31 and comment with the most absurd thing you’ve spent money on.

The comment with 0 likes (yes, zero likes) will win. Let's go 💸

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It’s easier than ever to spend money unecessarily.

Late-stage capitalism really has ways of hacking into our monkey brains and getting us to spend money without thinking.

But it’s not all on you. You just need some tools to deal with overspending. We got you.

First off, let’s identify a few of the culprits, so we know who to fight.

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Why can’t I stop spending money?

🥊 Social media

Targeted ads. Autofill payment details. Can we not mindlessly scroll in peace anymore, without having our smooth brain time being taken advantage of by targeted ads, or being well and truly influenced by the influencers?

And it’s not just the ads. Not to sound like your mom, but since social media is a highlight reel, it’s easy to see everyone else’s expensive lives as extremely attractive. People aren’t out here creating aesthetic reels of their 8 hour shift and struggle meals.

It's not wonder half of millennials say that social media drives them to overspend.

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🥊 Not tracking spending

It’s only recently that money turned invisible. That’s pretty wild. And invisible money is a lot easier to spend.

If money was still gold coins, gems and rubies (idk, was that a thing? I’m not a historian) it would be much easier to keep hold of.

Add to this: Buy Now, Pay Later, which makes disappearing money even harder to track. In fact, 18% of consumers aged 18-29 fell behind on BNPL payments in 2021, according to a Federal Reserve report shared by Bloomberg recently.

🥊 Emotional spending

Retail therapy. It’s real. And super addictive. And easier to engage with than ever, thanks to the last two culprits.

Because of this, emotional spending is on the rise among young people, despite the cost of living crisis.

Plus, we’re not taught about financial health. Managing money requires a set of skills that not everyone is privileged enough to be taught as a kid. We definitely didn’t get it taught in schools.

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Don’t worry though, we’ve got your back.

Ready to fight the good fight? Here are 8 hacks to stop spending money unnecessarily.

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How to save money and stop spending, in 7 steps

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Step One: Download Cleo and let her roast you

Sometimes you just need to be sat down and roasted the sh*t out of your spending habits.

It looks a bit like this:

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So if  you often check your bank account and think “where the hell has my money gone” and you’re just genuinely ~oblivious~ to where it all went, roast mode’s for you.

Once you have an idea of where it’s going, you can make a plan to curb your spending.

This leads us on to step two.

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Step Two: Track your spending

Since you’ve already conveniently downloaded Cleo at this point, this one’s easy.

Cleo automatically tracks your incomings and outgoings.

She even sorts your spending into essential and non-essential (which you can then alter). This is crucial for the next step.

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Step Three: Make your budget do the work for you

Budgeting isn’t the hottest topic in the world, so you want to be thinking about it as little as possible. Luckily, it’s the 21st century, and there are robots who can do the thinking for you.

Now you’ve got your money categorized into essential and non-essential, you can decide how much you’ve got to spend, and how much you want to put aside.

No guilt involved.

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Step Four: Make it harder to spend

Chances are, if you’re feeling bad about the money you’re spending, you’re probably an impulsive shopper.

Feeling better about spending is all about shopping more intentionally.

First off, you might wanna block ads on the apps you spend the most time on. Then, remove your saved payment details from your browser.

This gives you some time to take a breath before buying something.

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Step Five: Make it easier to save

Just because you have a rock solid budget now and know how much money you wanna be putting aside in THEORY, that doesn’t mean you’re putting it away in practice.

With apps like Cleo, you can use the autosave feature to transfer the money into your savings account for you.

That way, the money is out of your account before you’ve had a chance to splurge it all on Uber Eats.

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Step Six: Go cold turkey

Ok, this one only really works if you’ve got a certain type of personality (ahem, intense). But people swear by it.

In a no-spend month, you don’t buy anything new. No clothes. No eating out. You basically only spend on the essentials. And it depends what you count as essential here: some people count their gym membership as essential in a no-spend month, because it keeps them sane. Whatever works for you.

Bonus points if you have a serious savings goal you want to achieve quickly. This is your carrot.

If this doesn’t sound like your kind of thing, you probably wanna try a more sustainable option from day one. So this means still treating yourself, but cutting the costs.

Using sites like TooGoodToGo, for reduced takeaway food, instead of paying full price. You can  also look at ways to save money on gas, rent and groceries.

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Step Seven: Hype Yourself

You’ve made it to the end of this (weirdly boxing-themed) program. You are the champion. You deserve to hype yourself up.

Cleo’s got you. With hype mode, she showers you with praise for all the good stuff you’ve been doing for your finances.

In fact, you deserve to get hyped at every stage of the process. Anything to make this whole money thing a little easier.

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You’ve got this.

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There’s only one thing left to do, duh…

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Enjoy this post? Give it a share or send it along to a friend. You never know, it could make a big difference.

‍Big love. Cleo 💙