We are all doing our regular activities every day, who do not even notice. Such as brushing your teeth, making your bed, or paying your credit card bills.
You may think that this is a daily routine but these small habits can go more way than reaching a simple goal. Making your bed can be the basis for earning a raise, rather than having a more productive day at the workplace and making you a cleaner home.
Establishing and building these mini habits can be the ultimate trick to making your lifestyle and budget goals a reality. This trick for business is called habit stacking. See habit stacking meaning & examples.
In this post we will explain what is Habit Stacking? and its meaning and examples.
What Is Habit Stacking?
Habit stacking is the art of combining your current habits with those you want to start. Essentially, you take a habit that you already do every day, and combine it with a simple one that you want to do every day. For example, you can already make coffee every morning, and you want to do more workouts. With this stacking routine, you can do some stretches immediately while brewing your coffee.
Each time you repeat an action, your brain builds a strong network of neurons to support that behavior. The more you do something, the stronger and more efficient the connection becomes.
Habit stacking seeks to take advantage of the connectedness of behaviour. It’s exactly as it sounds like — “stacking” new, healthy habits over the ones you’ve already developed.
The general formula for habit stacking is:
After/Before [CURRENT HABIT], I will [NEW HABIT]
Examples of Habit Stacking
Certain examples could be:
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After brushing my teeth, I will gargle with mouthwash.
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After I wake up, I will meditate for ten minutes.
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After I brew my cup of coffee, I will write my to-do list for the day.
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8 steps to stack your habits to improve your finances
Establishing a habitual roadmap at the beginning of your journey will help you stay on top of your goals. Here is our five-step approach to building, and sticking to, your ideal habit routine.
Step 1: List your current habits
It is very common to list your habit that you already do when you are awake. This common habit includes brushing teeth, making coffee/tea, checking the work of your offices, and doing workouts. Mention what habits you do regularly and what you do occasionally.
Step 2: Plan your purchases
Instead of making a quick run to the drugstore to buy a few items here and there, plan your shopping trips. Make a list of exactly what you want to buy, and how much you are going to spend. By having a list and sticking to it, you’d be better off avoiding impulses or taking items you don’t really need.
The same things you buy online. Find out what you really need, how much you can afford, and wait at least a few days before making a purchase. If it is not a required item, try to wait 30 days before adding it to your cart.
Step 3: Pay yourself first
If you want to make sure you are not overspeeding, create a budget. But if you want to increase your savings, pay yourself first. This means that the first thing to put your money towards saving is when you get your salary, except for the rest of the things. If you pay only after taking care of your bills and expenses, you run the risk of not saving enough to hit your big-picture targets. You can take the dollar by auto-transferring it to a savings account or save the percentage of time you take it home each month.
Step 4: Create your new routine
Once you understand what habits will help you reach your money goals, make them as simple as possible. Your goal may be to spend more money in mind. To do this, establish a habit of checking your budget every morning after getting out of the shower. By doing this you can be conscious of your purchasing decisions. Also, it may take up to a minute to check your budget.
Step 5: Save your bonus cash
If you get a raise, a great month was freelancing, take on a side gig, or net a work bonus, committed to taking away some of it. However, if you want to enjoy some extra money – which is perfectly fine – allocate a percentage of this “bonus money” toward your savings goals.
Step 6: Attach a New Money Habit to a Current Habit
Habitual time is to stop your correct daily routine. Start by taking a habit that you do every day and pair it with a habit that you want to do every day. It might look like this:
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“When I make my morning coffee, I will check my budget.”
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“After I brush my teeth every morning, I will add a penny to my savings jar.”
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When stacking your habit, use this model:
Step 7: Send your savings into a savings account
If you are making a concerted effort to save in different areas of your life, make sure that the money you save goes towards your savings. Otherwise, it is easy to spend the savings, which leaves you back after starting.
Step 8: Track your financial progress
Determine how much progress you have made on your money goals for some time each month. How much debt have you paid, and are you saving for a down payment at home, or how much money are you making every year for that dream trip? Seeing the results will help you stay on track. In addition, it will give you a boost in motivation and can help you save.
How to Use Habit Stacking to Learn Personal Finance
To use habit stacking to become financially literate, you’ll need to implement the following steps:
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Becoming aware of your finances
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Learning personal finance
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Explaining what you know
Becoming Aware You want to start by becoming aware of your finances. This means how much you are spending, making, and saving. With this information, you will be able to create realistic financial goals for yourself, such as how much money you want to save for the next year. Learning the Basics
Learning finance Once you start understanding the basics, you make a powerful connection between financial literacy and high quality of life. This triggers a storehouse of curiosity about how you make your money work.
Explaining What You Know
As Albert Einstein once said,
“If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”
Try to describe what you have learned about personal finance as ten years old. If you can do it, congratulations: you understand it perfectly. To practice this ability, you will want to chat with people who may not fully understand personal finance.
