"People's complex attitudes toward money often defy economic theory." - Drazen Prelec, associate professor of marketing at the Sloan School of Management

    There was a time not so very long ago that I didn't pay much attention to where my money went. I always paid more than the minimum on my credit card, but I still wasn't making significant progress in debt reduction.

    For many people, it simply isn't enough to have a tactical plan to pay off debt. We know we should spend less than we earn, but as Drazen Prelec noted in the quote above, people have complex attitudes toward money. When emotion and logic are at odds, emotion usually wins.

    In retrospect, there are five phases I went through to change my relationship with money. Note that my process wasn't this linear. In fact it was quite messy, sometimes moving two steps forward and one step back.

    Riding the roller coaster

    Spending gave me a temporary high. New clothes made me feel new. I felt I deserved a pedicure and a massage. Picking up the tab for a friend made me feel great. I could justify almost any expenditure, any impulse buy, and all of it went on the credit card. It was like spending Monopoly money, until the end of the month when the credit card bill arrived. My stomach dropped as I looked at the balance, added the expenditures in my head, and realized that yes, it was correct. The bank didn't make a mistake. I bought that Stuff.

    I'd swear to myself to do better next month, and satisfied with that vague goal, put the whole thing out of my mind.

    Repeat. Repeat. Repeat.

    Recognizing and accepting myself

    The thing of it was that I fully understood the implications of credit card debt. I saw how living paycheck-to-paycheck imprisoned me and limited my options. I was tired of feeling guilty after every purchase. I couldn't stand that I was unable to save for travel because that money needed to go toward debt （so I wasn't saving it all）.

    Logically, I got it. Emotionally, I felt a mess.

    I started thinking about why I felt the urge to spend. Was I bored? Restless? Anxious?

    When I was in college just a few years earlier, I was somewhat depressed. I'd been to too many funerals, I was in a bad relationship, and I'd gained weight. Shopping was a high. Shopping was a hobby and a way to reinvent myself （or so I felt）.

    But that was years ago. I was now in a wonderful relationship with my now-husband, and I had every reason in the world to be happy. If nothing else, I had the basics - food, shelter, and family. I started to focus on the positive things in my life, and I realized that I hadn't been paying attention to them before. So why was I stuck in a bad pattern if life was good? What was I trying to prove, and to whom?

    My self-perception was so off the mark that although I had lost the weight I'd gained and then some, I would regularly try on clothes that were two sizes too big, much to the bewilderment of the salesperson.

    I wasn't seeing myself as I was or as loved ones or even strangers saw me. I began to notice where I was being hard on myself, and I decided to try to be okay with where I was right now. Not a Calvin Klein dress from now, not five pounds from now, just now. Being a perfectionist was just too exhausting.

    Finding flow

    I was starting to see myself more clearly, but I wasn't sure where to go from there. I knew I was sick of the roller coaster, of too much Stuff cluttering my life, of paying for the past （plus interest）. But if I didn't want what the marketers told me I should want, then what?

    "I flipped through catalogs and wondered: What kind of dining set defines me as a person?" - Fight Club

    What made me happy? Seems like a simple question, but to find the real answer, you have to block out a barrage of ad campaigns, expectations from family members and peers, and the desire to keep up with the Joneses.

    My list of things that make me happy looks like this:

    · Cooking with my husband

    · Time spent with family and friends （playing games, telling stories, etc.）

    · Photography

    · Time spent outdoors - backpacking, kayaking, swimming

    · Yoga

    · Travel and new experiences （learning）

    When engaged in many of these activities, I find "flow," a term coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in the 1970s. Flow occurs when you are so engrossed in an activity that you forget about your worries and lose track of time. For example, normally my mom can't stay awake past 9 p.m., but when she is sewing, she can stay up until the wee hours of the morning.

    I didn't know about flow or Csikszentmihalyi at the time, but I think people are instinctively drawn to activities that get them in the zone. There are countless pastimes that could give someone flow - running, surfing, singing, playing piano, hiking, writing. According to Csikszentmihalyi, a life of many activities in flow is likely to be a life of great satisfaction.

    My goal was （and still is） to spend as much time as possible in activities that give me flow, especially the ones that don't require much money!

    First steps

    This introspection was all well and good and necessary, but the debt wasn't going to just disappear because I was feeling like Buddha on the Mountaintop now. I still had to take tactical steps to kill the debt, but those steps aren't anything you haven't heard before. To begin, I stopped accumulating Stuff and started to track my spending.

    I also purged relentlessly - but not all at once. Over the course of a year, I donated, consigned, or gave away Stuff about eight times, slowly weaning myself from things I never used, realizing it was okay to let go.

    I put off purchases and considered the reasons I wanted whatever it was that I wanted.

    · Was I trying to prove something?

    · Was there a real need?

    · How often would I use or wear it?

    · Did I already own something similar?

    Then I'd think about my goals. Did I want a new pair of shoes, or did I want that money to go toward a trip to Italy more? It's helpful to use visual reminders of your goals. Find images that represent your ambitions and keep them in your purse or wallet. A lifelong Italianophile, I kept a photo of Cinque Terre on my desktop.

    The visual reminders are helpful because you are more likely to make a lasting change if you focus on the positive benefit to the new course of action （extra money in my travel fund）, rather than focusing on what may seem to be a sacrifice （not buying the shoes I think I need this very moment or I'll just die）.

    If you still can't decide, write down the Very Important Thing, along with where you saw it and the price. Tell yourself you can always come back and purchase it later because you've written down all of the information. Give it a day （or three） and see how you feel.

    Many times, the intense desire to buy the Very Important Thing will dissipate. If not, maybe it's a worthwhile purchase. Only you can decide what is most meaningful to you.

    Freedom

    I still feel the urge to buy on impulse. Maybe it's on sale, maybe I think there won't be any later, or maybe I've just convinced myself that it's a super smart purchase. Awful, isn't it? After all of that work shouldn't I be free from mindless spending? Had I not changed at all?

    What changed was my self-awareness. Now I'm able to feel the craving, acknowledge that it's there, and let mindfulness intervene before I act. Therein lies the freedom. I am no longer reacting on impulse; I am mindfully choosing my actions. I choose yes or no based on my goals. That freedom is a better high than anything I could have bought in a store.

    What about you? If you struggle with mindless spending, do you know why? Have you overcome it （and if so, how）? Do you have activities that give you flow?

    J.D.'s note: I personally found this piece very powerful. I could identify with a lot of April's emotions and thought processes. "Being a perfectionist was just too exhausting," she writes, and I think that I could have written that myself!

    "人們對待金錢的復雜態度常常會令經濟理論落空。"-Drazen Prelec,斯隆管理學院營銷系的副教授如是說。

    不久以前的某個時候，我并沒怎么注意錢花到哪兒去了。那時，我常常要在信用卡上還比最低限額還多的款，然而我仍然沒有在如何減輕負債這個問題上取得很大的進展。

    對很多人來說，他們只是沒有一個好的方法來償還債務。我們都知道花的錢不應該超過賺的錢，但是就像Drazen Prelec指出的那樣。人們對于金錢的態度相當復雜。當情感和邏輯有差異的時候，情感部分往往會占上風。

    回想過去，我在轉變自己和金錢關系這方面曾經經歷了五個階段。請注意我經歷的這個過程并非那么清楚明了，事實上，這個過程相當混亂，有時候前進兩步，有時候又退后一步。

    過山車式的生活

    花錢給了我短暫的興奮感。新衣服也會讓我感覺新鮮。我感覺自己該去修個腳，按摩按摩，放松一下。替朋友付賬讓我感覺棒極了。我可以為我幾乎所有的消費，包括任何一次沖動消費找到正當理由，而這些統統都記在我的信用卡上。這就像在花壟斷資金一樣，直到月底信用卡賬單來到的時候。我看賬單結余的時候心里咯噔了一下，心算了一下我的花費，然后意識到，這個數額確實是對的。銀行沒有弄錯。我確實買了那些東西。

    我對自己發誓下個月我會做好一點，并對這個模糊的目標感到滿意，接著就把它拋到九霄云外去了。

    重復、重復、重復。

    認識并且接受自己

    事實是，我開始完全了解那些信用卡債務的含義了。我親眼看著自己被一個個賬單捆綁，不得選擇。我對自己每次買東西后的那種愧疚感感到厭倦了。我無法忍受自己沒法為旅行費用存到足夠的錢，因為那些錢都會變成債務（因此我根本就不存錢。）

    從邏輯上看，我達到了目的。但從感情上講，我覺得一團糟。

    我開始思考自己總想花錢的真正原因。無聊？無休止？還是焦慮？

    前幾年還在大學的時候，我不知怎么的覺得很沮喪。我參加了太多葬禮，戀愛也談得很糟糕，另外我還在長胖。購物是個讓人興奮的事情，血拼是一種嗜好，同時也是從新改造自己的一種方式（或者我是這么覺得的）.

    不過那已經是好幾年前的事了，如今我和現在的丈夫特別恩愛，我理應感到幸福。如果不算其他的，我也有最基本的-食物、住處和家庭。我開始專注在生活中積極的那些事情上，我也意識到，從前我并沒有怎么注意這些事情。既然我的生活如此美好，為什么我還陷在這種糟糕的模式里出不來呢？我是想證明什么嗎？給誰證明呢？

    雖然我已經減了重，可是我的自我感受還是那么不對勁兒。有時候，我還定期穿些比我的身材大兩個尺碼的衣服，這一點讓賣衣服的人也摸不著頭腦。

    我并沒有像從前一樣看待自己，或者我并沒有把自己看作別人喜歡的人，甚至沒有像陌生人看我一樣看待自己。我開始注意到：我在什么地方對自己很苛刻。因此我下定決心試著去適應我現在的樣子。不再是穿上Calvin klein之后怎么樣，也不是花五英鎊以后怎么樣，而是就在現在。完美主義太折磨人了。

    尋找流動中的自我

    我開始更清楚地看自己了，不過我還不確定從那兒要去哪里。我知道我已經受夠了過山車式的生活；受夠了各種物品塞滿我的生活；也受夠了為自己過去的所作所為支付賬單（還有利息）.不過，如果我不想要營銷人員告訴我什么才是我應該得到的話，那我該怎么辦呢？

    我在目錄之間跳轉查閱，心想，吃什么才能讓我感覺像個人呢？--Fight Club

    什么能讓我感到快樂？聽起來似乎是個很簡單的問題，不過要找到真正的答案，你就必須躲開廣告的狂轟亂炸；放下家人和同伴對你的期待；以及總想和鄰居比個高下的心理。

    讓我感到快樂的事好像有這幾個：

    1. 和老公一起做飯

    2. 和朋友、家人在一起（玩游戲，講故事等等。）

    3. 拍照

    4. 戶外活動-背包旅行、皮劃艇、游泳

    5. 做瑜伽

    6. 旅行、經歷不同體驗（學習）

    當我參與很多這樣那樣的活動的時候，我發現了流動的自己。"流動"一詞是由心理學家Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi在上世紀七十年代發明的。當你聚精會神地投入到一項活動中的時候，你忘記了煩惱，忘記了時間，這個時候"流動的你"就出現了。打個比方，通常我媽過了晚上九點就昏昏欲睡了，可當她做針線活的時候，她可以一直做到凌晨幾點。

    我那時并不知道流動這個詞，也不知道Csikszentmihalyi,但我想人們都本能地被他們感興趣的活動所吸引。生活中有無數數不清的娛樂可以看到流動-跑步、沖浪、唱歌、彈鋼琴、慢步、寫作。對于Csikszentmihalyi來說，一個有著許多流動著的活動的生活將是一個讓人擁有巨大滿足感的人生。

    我的目標（現在仍然是）是盡可能多的花時間參加讓我感到流動的活動，特別是那些不怎么花錢的活動。

    邁出第一步

    自我反省很好，而且也很必要，我自我感覺像是山頂上的佛陀，但是債務不會因此而消失。我仍然需要采取必要的措施來遏制債務的侵襲，只不過你可能從來沒聽說過以下這些步驟。為了邁出第一步，我停止了購物，開始注意我的消費情況了。

    我還開始毫不猶豫地清理掉我的東西，不過不是一次性。整整一年，我捐贈衣物、托人代售、甚至把東西送給別人，送了八次。慢慢地，我把自己從來不用東西都處理掉了，我發覺送走這些物品之后感覺還不錯。

    我延遲了購物，開始考慮各種我為什么想要這個東西的理由。

    1. 是想證明什么嗎？

    2. 真的需要嗎？

    3. 我多久會用一次，穿一次？

    4. 是否已經有了跟這個類似的物品了？

    接下來我想了想自己的目標。我是否需要一雙新鞋，或者我更想存錢去意大利？讓你的目標看得見、摸得著，這樣會更有效。找找代表你的各種理想目標的圖片，把他們放在錢包或者手袋里。我是個意大利迷，我在桌面上擺了一張五漁村的照片。

    看得見的東西很管用，因為這樣你就更有可能實現一次持久的改變，前提是專注在新的行動上的積極因素（旅行經費里多余的款項）.而不是專注在可能看起來像是你做出了什么重大犧牲的因素上（比如，這會兒不買這雙鞋的話，我就活不了了）.

    如果你還是沒法做出決定的話，請寫下最最緊要的事，以及你在哪兒見到這個東西的，還有它的價格。告訴自己你永遠都可以回來，再買下它，因為你已經把所有信息都寫下來了。放上一天兩天，看看自己有什么感覺。

    很多時候，那個急于想買某個很重要的東西的想法就消失了。如果還是不行的話，可能確實你需要這個東西。只有你自己才能決定什么東西對你有用。

    自由度

    我仍然會有沖動消費的欲望。或許商品正在銷售，或許我認為再晚點就沒有了，再或許我覺得買這個東西很劃算。聽著很糟糕，是吧？經過所有這些心理活動之后，我難道還不擺脫這種無意識消費嗎？難道我還是沒什么改變嗎？

    改變的是我的自我意識�，F在我能感覺到那個買東西的渴望了，也能認識到它就在那里，我讓自我意識在我行動之前作出阻攔動作。這里面就是自由之所在。我不再對刺激條件反射了；我有意識地選擇行動；我根據自己的目標來選擇是或者不是。那份自由度比我在商店里買到的任何東西都來得大些。

    那么你呢？如果你正在無意識消費的漩渦里掙扎，你知道這其中的原因嗎？你克服它了嗎（如果你克服了，那么你是如何克服的呢）?你有哪些讓你感到"流動"的活動呢？

    J.D.留言：我個人認為這篇文章非常非常好。我能跟April的很多情感和思考過程產生認同感。"完美主義者太折磨人了，"她是這樣寫的，我希望寫這句話的人是我。