
The Secret to Financial Freedom? It Starts With Doing Absolutely Nothing
You get a notification on your phone — your bank account balance is low. Wait, what? How? Where did it all go? You think back, trying to figure out how you got paid a few days ago, but almost all of the money is gone. You try to recall where you spent it, but it’s all a blur of coffee runs, impulse Amazon buys, and Doordash deliveries.
Most people don’t track their spending, despite what FinTok suggests. Not because they don’t care but because monitoring where your money is spent is overwhelming. And, let’s be honest… sometimes it’s just easier not to look. When you’re in over your head just trying to make ends meet, who wants to add another thing to their never-ending mental load of adulting?
But what if the first step to feeling in control was not changing a thing? You want to get out of debt, but what if you don’t have to change your spending right now? What if the simple act of noticing could be the first step to lasting financial change? Research shows that simply tracking a behaviour — without trying to change it — leads to improved habits over time. This is called the Hawthorne Effect — when people know they’re being observed (even by themselves), they start acting differently.
A slight shift like this can create a chain reaction like you’ve never experienced before, leading to better financial choices without the stress. We’ll go deeper into the studies that prove this and just how paying attention to your spending (sans judgment) can change your financial future.
Why We Avoid Looking At Our Money
The majority of us have a complicated relationship with money. In fact, for nearly half of Albertans, financial survival is a daily fight. If money were just about the numbers, perhaps our relationship with it wouldn’t be so complicated — but money is also tied to emotions, memories, and even survival instincts. Growing up in a home filled with debt stress, like hearing arguments about bills, seeing declined grocery store purchases, or experiencing job losses, can cause you to internalize money as something scarce, stressful, and best to be avoided.
Signs You’re Avoiding Your Money
Avoiding dealing with your finances doesn’t always look like shoving unopened bills in a drawer (but 👋 if that’s you). You may be avoiding your money and not even know it. Subtle ways we avoid our money include:
- Transferring money between bank accounts constantly to avoid seeing a low balance. Instead of confronting the reality of how much is left in your account, you move funds around to create the illusion of control. You have money in savings, so you’re okay, right? It’s a short-term fix that doesn’t address the root issue.
- Making minimum payments on credit cards just enough to keep it working, then maxing it out again. You can convince yourself that as long as you make the minimum payment, you’re handling it, but the debt cycle continues, and the balance never actually goes down month after month.
- Using auto-pay, but never checking bank statements because you don’t want to know how much is coming from your account. But this means you might not notice subscriptions you no longer use or rising rates on utilities, errors on your account, or extra fees that you didn’t know you were getting charged.
- Ignoring phone calls and emails from your creditors so you don’t have to deal with your financial reality. Each unopened email or unread notification builds up like a pressure cooker, creating more and more anxiety over time.
- Avoiding bank apps to separate yourself from the numbers. It doesn’t feel as real if you don’t see the total, even if it’s draining your account faster than you realize.
Sticking your head in the sand doesn’t help, but you do it anyway. Why? Because it does help — temporarily. Avoidance creates a momentary sense of relief. If you don’t check your balance, you don’t have to deal with the emotions it triggers. It delays the discomfort, even if it ultimately makes things worse.
The Psychology Behind Our Spending
Our spending habits aren’t random. They’re deeply shaped by psychology, marketing strategies, and emotional states, among others. Before blaming yourself for “spending too much money,” let’s break down how these hidden forces are influencing your spending habits and how you can take back control:
- Dopamine hits: Every time you make a purchase, your brain gets a dopamine hit, the “feel-good” neurotransmitter. This creates a rewarding sensation in your body, encouraging repeated behaviour. Over time, this can lead to a cycle because “buying something new can provide a temporary boost in mood, triggering a dopamine release that creates a sense of pleasure,” even if you know that buying it will cause more stress in the long run.
- Emotional spending: You don’t have to be an emotional person to be an emotional spender. Shopping can serve as a subconscious way of coping with emotions you didn’t even realize needed soothing — boredom, stress, sadness, or even joy. It’s why a sub-par performance review can result in an online shopping spree later that evening or why a small victory might feel like a reason to “treat yourself.”
This behaviour actually has a name — Spending as Social and Affective Coping (SSAC). Research shows that when emotions feel overwhelming, shopping can provide a false sense of relief or control. “The brain is wired to seek instant gratification, and spending triggers the release of dopamine, the ‘feel-good’ hormone,” explains consumer psychologist Dr. Smits. “This creates a temporary sense of happiness or accomplishment, making it easy to justify purchases in the moment.” - Social comparison: TikTok is basically a 24/7 infomercial for a life no one can actually afford. You’re watching, contently sipping on your morning coffee before starting your day, and next, you’re convinced you need a $70 glass tumbler, a capsule wardrobe consciously curated by a creator named Sage, and you find yourself questioning how you’ve managed this long without a $200 skincare fridge.
The result of your morning scroll is a subtle but powerful feeling that you’re behind — that your life shouldn’t be as messy, ugly, and chaotic. It fuels compensatory spending — buying things that you don’t need because you feel the pressure to measure up. Studies have shown that social comparison increases spending behaviors, especially among younger demographics like Gen Z, who may be more susceptible to peer influence. A study highlighted by Intrum indicates that “nearly half of Millennials (47%) and over half of Generation Z (53%) admit to making impulsive purchases after encountering social media adverts.”
- No-friction spending: Tap-to-pay, buy now with one click, and saved payment methods have removed hurdles to spending. Definitely convenient, but not helpful when you can’t feel the “pain” of parting with your money, leading to increased impulsivity. Mental accounting — the way people organize and spend their money — is a core reason consumers spend more when using frictionless payments.
A No-Judgment Look at Your Last 10 Purchases
If you’re reading this, you likely don’t meticulously track every dollar. Totally fine — we’re not going to make you create a spreadsheet or add up months of categorical spending. Instead, let’s take one small step — just look at where your money went this week.
Here’s how to notice what’s going on (without spiraling):
- Open your banking app or credit card account, whatever you’ve used this week. (Yes, right now. New tab. We’ll wait.)
- Look at your last 10 purchases.
- For each, ask yourself: Was it planned or impulsive? What emotions were present at that time? Was it needed, like windshield washer fluid, so you could safely drive home on the muddy, slushy highways, or was it just important in the moment?
- No guilt, no shaming, just awareness. You’re not changing anything yet — just noticing.
Want extra guidance? Check out our article on 5 Simple Steps to Revise Your Budget for insights on how to use this awareness to make smarter choices over time.
Meet Becky from Accounting (The Spreadsheet Queen That Doesn’t Know Where Her Money Goes)
Meet Becky. She’s in accounting and has spreadsheets for days, but, somehow, secretly has no clue where her own money goes. She can calculate payroll to the cent but has NO idea how her paycheque disappears so quickly. She tells herself she’s just seeing what deals are available on Amazon — then wakes up two days later to her doorstep looking like a fulfillment centre. Did she need to buy another new planner, notebook, and pastel highlighter set in order to try to pull her life together? Absolutely not. But at the time? It felt necessary.
Becky isn’t irresponsible, reckless, or bad with money — she’s trying her best. She pays her bills on time, thinks about saving a lot, and swears she’s responsible with her spending. But somehow, every month, her paycheque pulls a disappearing act. She needs to learn what’s going on with her money before she realizes she has $8.32 left until payday.
Besides the Amazon spree, Becky thought her last 10 purchases seemed pretty standard — a morning oat milk latte, the sushi at lunch because who has the energy to assemble a sad desk salad at 7 AM? The grocery run the night before (oh yeah, maybe she didn’t need that candle), specialty dog food from the vet for their old dog, their mortgage payment, and a new pair of earbuds for her son because his went through the wash. And — oh dang it, there’s the free trial she signed up for and even set a reminder to cancel but totally forgot to. By the time she got to purchase number ten — yet another coffee — she noticed something.
This was her life. What seemed like menial, everyday purchases never actually felt significant on their own. But when she looked at them all together? They explained why her paycheque wasn’t holding them over. Becky didn’t need a budget spreadsheet (she’s got plenty already) or a huge financial intervention — just a few minutes to look, think, and notice.
The Unexpected Magic of Just Noticing
Becky didn’t think looking at her last ten purchases for a few minutes would make any difference in her life, but after seeing it all in one place, she realized something powerful — it wasn’t just rising interest rates and inflation making her money disappear; it was slipping away in small, seemingly insignificant ways. With just a little mindfulness, Becky had a newfound awareness.
The first step in financial change isn’t cutting out coffee or cancelling everything fun. Sometimes, it’s just noticing where your money goes. And for Becky, that was enough to start making different choices, little by little.
Maybe it will be for you, too.
How to Make Noticing a Habit (Without It Feeling Like a Chore)
You tap your card, the purchase goes through, and life moves on. But what if, just for a second, you paused? Not to change anything — just to notice. Just a quiet, mental check-in: I am buying a $55 Oilers hoodie on sale. I spent $15 on parking at the hospital. I grabbed a gas station coffee and a butter tart for $8.50. That’s it.
This tiny habit doesn’t feel like much, but it shifts something. Awareness has a way of making things more clear — where your money actually goes, what habits emerge, and what surprises you when you start paying attention.
What Happens When You Pay Attention Without Changing Anything?
Simply paying attention to your spending habits can rewire your brain in ways most people don’t realize. Here’s what’s actually happening behind the scenes:
- Your brain starts flexing its self-control muscles (without you forcing it)
- Your brain starts connecting the dots before you even spend
- Noticing = low-key accountability (that actually works)
When you pause for even a second to notice a purchase — without judging yourself — you’re actually practicing mindfulness. Studies show that this kind of awareness lights up the part of your brain responsible for self-control, helping you make better choices over time without feeling like you’re forcing it.
Ever find yourself about to approach the cashier and suddenly think, “Wait, do I actually need this?” That’s your prefrontal cortex in action — the part of your brain that handles decision-making. Neuroscience research suggests that just paying attention to your money strengthens this area, making you more intentional before you even reach for your wallet.
You don’t need an app to track every dollar to start making better choices. Consumer psychology research shows that simply being aware of your spending creates a subtle sense of accountability. No shame, no guilt — just small, subconscious shifts that lead to better financial habits over time.
Want to Take the Next Step? Let’s Make It Even Easier.
After a few weeks of noticing your spending without judgment, you may have started to become aware of certain habits you didn’t even realize you had, like just how often you tap your card without thinking twice.
If you’re ready for a simple, no-stress next step, check out our Budgeting Workbook. It’s packed with practical, doable ways to take control of your finances without cutting out the things you love. You don’t need to overhaul your spending — you just need a plan that works for you.
How Money Mentors Can Help
Noticing your spending is a great first step, but what if you’re feeling completely overwhelmed by what you see? What if you’re noticing that you really don’t have enough to pay for everything, and your bills are really piling up? If your debt feels unmanageable, and you’re wondering how you’ll ever get ahead, Money Mentors is here to help. We’re the only organization in Alberta that offers the Orderly Payment of Debts (OPD) program, a government-backed way to consolidate and repay debt at a 5% interest rate.
For over 25 years, we’ve helped Albertans find debt relief with trusted, judgment-free support. If you’re struggling with multiple creditors, high interest, or debt that just won’t go away, let’s talk about real solutions. No pressure — just the next step toward financial stability. Call to speak with our accredited Financial Counsellors today at 1-888-294-0076.
Final Thought: The Plot Twist of the Century
Imagine this: You go an entire month just noticing your money habits as best you can. Then, one day, you casually check your bank balance, and — huh — there’s actually money left over.
Turns out, financial changes don’t start with cutting out coffee or cancelling everything fun — they start with noticing where the heck your money is actually going.
That’s it. That’s the trick. And now, you know it.

Have questions?
Need more information or want to talk to an accredited financial counsellor for peace of mind? Let us help.
Call 1-888-294-0076 or book an appointment. It’s free for all Albertans.