Economic blackout
If you’re taking part in today’s Economic Blackout (2/28/2025), thank you!
Even brief pauses in spending can shed a lot of clarity on how and why we spend. My encouragement is to take the day to set up some strategies that will help you lead a more resilient financial life every day!
Spending in line with your values
Today you’re NOT spending as a way to align with your values. But what does it look like to intentionally spend in alignment with your values?
For some of us, the economic blackout might feel like a time of restriction… a kind of white-knuckle compliance that may trigger some deep-seated things like loss aversion and scarcity mindset. This can leave us feeling desperate, reactive, and on-edge.
My hope is that by the end of this post, this day of protest may also mean a reduction in that feeling of restriction (more on that in a moment), and leaning in to more intentional spending.
Let’s talk about three ways you can rebound out of the economic blackout in a way that makes your financial life just a little more resilient:
Finding the purpose behind your spending
Restriction is bullshit
Let’s do a quick thought experiment.
Imagine you are the Human Resources Department Head for a large company. Every two years the CEO and CFO get together and make a plan for the company. And every two years you get an allotment of money to do your HR work. This two years you’ve been given 10 million dollars for HR. Rather than spend that 10 million, you decide you’ll be a frugal department head and only spend 2 million. Do you think you would keep your job?
More than likely you would not. That 10 million dollars had a job to do, and spending just 1/5 of planned spending would probably put the company in dire straits. Money has a job to do.
Practicing giving money a job and practicing expected spending (not restricted) is critical. Expected spending is also less emotional than frugal, restrictive spending, which over time leads to better and better decision making. The opposite of frugality isn’t willy-nilly, free-for-all, unrestricted spending.
The opposite of frugality and restriction is thoughtful, intentional spending.
Only by practicing thoughtful spending can we get to a holistic, integrated, healthy relationship with our money.
When you reutrn to spending tomorrow, why not play a game meant to reinforce that thoughtful, intentional spending.
1.Choose a small, variable part of your spending:
Good examples: coffee, ice cream, clothes, eating out
Not so good examples: mortgage payment, utilities
2.Choose a fairly short time frame:
Between two days and two weeks
3.Choose a specific dollar amount.
Example: “I’m going to spend exactly $17 on ice cream in the next 10 days.”
“We’re going to spend exactly $42 on towels in the next 2 weeks.
Not so good example:
“I’m going to spend up to $24 on pencils tomorrow.” (this is restriction)
Your job is now to spend EXACTLY that amount of money in that time. No more. No less.
We want this to remain a game, not a budget, so that’s why we’re keeping the time frame and scope of spending fairly tight. And this is just a game. So if you spend more or less, does that really matter?
Nope, because this is just a game.
You are now practicing expected spending. That $17 (or whatever amount you choose) has a specific job to do.
As you play this game what do you think you might notice? Do you think it will be easy or hard to spend exactly that amount on that specific thing in that specific amount of time?
There is a dual purpose to this game. First it’s to practice expected spending rather than restricted spending. Second is to begin to trust yourself with money.
Use today to take inventory
Even a single-day abstinence from spending can feel stressful. But there are, of course, other times in our lives when we feel right on the razor’s edge with our finances. Very often when we feel like we’re close to the edge on survival, we can click over into emotional and reactive decision making.
One great way to crack into that reactivity is to inventory what you actually DO have.
For the first part of this exercise, ask yourself this question: If you didn’t go grocery shopping, how long could you actually live on the food you already have?
Inventory your consumables in terms of how long you could last on whatever the consumable is. We aren’t so interested in how many cups of rice you have, for example, but how many days or weeks of rice you have left.
Next, take an inventory of your skills. In times of extreme hardship (economic, political, etc.) it’s easy to lose sight of the ways that we are already resilient and strong, so what skills, aptitudes, and qualities do you already have?
From your ability to connect and build community, to your skill at crocheting, to the ability to conditionally format a spreadsheet, what do you excell at? (pun absolutely intended)
Find the purpose of your spending
The final step I’ll add here is to return to spending tomorrow with one question in your mind: “What is the purpose of this spending?”
The idea is that every time you spend, AS you spend, you ask yourself this question.
This prompt does a fantastic job of 1) beginning to evaluate your choices in terms of your values 2) not evaluating yourself as part of your decision making.
Evaluating your spending in relation to your values
As you may have picked up, we don’t do restriction here. Restriction, obligation, shame, and punishment have no part in trauma-informed financial coaching. What we do is brining spending (as well as savings and investing) in line with our clients’ values.
By asking yourself “What is the purpose of this spending?” you get the chance to hold that spending up against your values. There is no such thing as good or bad spending, and only you get to decide if your spending aligns with your values.
Evaluate the choice, not yourself
We we fall for the lie that there is a perfectly good or bad choice to made, we may also end up judging or evaluting ourselves.
Have I worked hard enough today to deserve this ice cream?
I shouldn’t buy this because I racked up too much debt over the holidays.
I’ve worked really hard, so I need this meal out.
All of these are examples of us evaluating ourselves, not the choice at hand. You deserve ice cream, a day off, vacations, and all the nice things just by existing. The bullshit lie that you have to work hard to earn things, be perfectly productive, and restrict yourself to show you’re serious about “getting your shit together” are all a direct result of capitalism. And make no mistake, capitalism benefits from you agonizing over finding the exact right choice to make. I know this is getting a little esoteric, but let me just close on this:
Your worth is not in question. Evaluate the choices you make, not yourself.