Modern consumerism is designed to fleece you - here’s how to fight back

It’s time financial advice caught up with modern consumerism. Here’s how you can save by outsmarting it.

We all know the boring everyday savings advice: make coffee at home, cancel unused subscriptions, pack your lunch, stop buying avocado toast and basically develop the discipline of a fasting monk.

That stuff sort of works. But iron-clad restraint is rarely sustainable, or enjoyable. Also, this advice misunderstands the real driver of modern spending habits.

These days, consumerism is designed to exploit us – and that, rather than a lack of willpower, is the bigger problem I think.

Let me explain, and give you some practical ideas to fight back.

Hey, easy spender

If you think spending feels automatic, rather than intentional nowadays, you are not wrong.

That, my friend, is by design.

By removing the pauses that once protected us from impulsive decisions, splashing money on this or that couldn’t be easier.

If you think about it, our entire economy increasingly relies on this strategy.

For instance:

You search for something once and suddenly ads follow you around the internet like a digital salesman reading your mind. Online shopping platforms save your card details, address and preferences so buying something takes seconds. One-click purchasing exists because there’s no thinking. Not even for a second.

Offline, it’s the same story.

Supermarkets place chocolates and junk food near the register because we are tempted and tired. Shopping centres are designed to keep you wandering – and spending. Food delivery apps make takeaway easier than opening the fridge. Streaming services autoplay the next episode before you even decide whether you want to keep watching.

Convenience is profitable.

‘Add to cart’. Actually, ‘buy now’ – it’s faster …

Inviting friction back in

While most traditional financial advice tells us to rely on willpower to fight everyday spending temptations, most of us know this is unreliable. When you are busy, stressed, tired or distracted (which is most people most of the time), convenience is welcomed – it’s almost soothing.

But that same feeling isn’t felt when the credit card statement arrives.

A better strategy for today might be to change our behaviour to make mindless spending slightly harder and good financial decisions slightly easier.

In other words: we need to add friction back in.

Here are some ideas:

Delete your saved credit card details from shopping apps and websites. Having to physically get up, find your card and manually enter the numbers sounds minor, but it interrupts impulse purchases surprisingly well.
Turn off one-click purchasing wherever possible and remove shopping apps from your phone entirely. Most mindless purchases happen during boredom scrolling, not intentional shopping.
Use the 24-hour rule for non-essential purchases. You’ll be surprised how many “must-have” buys lose urgency overnight.
Unsubscribe from retailer emails. You are not “saving money” because something is 30 per cent off if you never planned to buy it in the first place.
Delete Uber Eats and takeaway apps so ordering dinner requires more effort.
Log out of online shopping sites after each purchase instead of staying permanently signed in.
Put alcohol and expensive snacks in inconvenient spots. People consume less when things require more effort.

Automate the good behaviour

Consumerism automates spending, but you can automate saving and being money smart too. Make this as easy as clicking ‘buy now pay later’ by:

Keeping your phone away from your bed at night. Late-night scrolling is prime time for impulse spending because you are bored and you might also crave a dopamine hit – buying ourselves stuff releases happy chemicals.
Having a separate “fun spending” account with a weekly limit instead of micromanaging every coffee purchase. Extreme budgeting often fails because it feels punishing.
Setting up automatic bill payments – avoid late fees and financial chaos by taking the friction OUT of everyday admin.
Automate a savings buffer – Protect yourself from going into debt for unexpected life expenses such as your car breaking down by always having a savings buffer. Automate deposits into this account regularly.
Getting paid into the best account – If you have an offset account, make sure your employee pays directly into it so you don’t need to move money later. Likewise, a high-interest savings account should be your pay day default.
Set up salary sacrificing/packaging – Through automatic transfers or directing extra income straight into super – and benefit from the tax advantages.