Tag Archives: Habits

Routines, Habits, and Addiction: The Powerful Forces That Govern Your Behavior

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When I was in elementary school, life was grand.  School days were short, recess was long, free time was plentiful, and homework was minimal.  As you might expect, this lifestyle changed over the years. As I entered middle and high school, my afternoons became quickly filled with studying for tests, practicing for band concerts, and socializing with friends.  I was forced to adjust my schedule to make time for these competing priorities, and it was at this point that I developed my first after-school routine.

Routine = A sequence of tasks performed regularly or at specified intervals

After arriving home from school and using the bathroom (I avoided those school bathrooms like the plague), I rewarded myself for a hard day’s work with a snack.  After the snack, I immediately started my homework and worked on it until completion.  When I was done, I used my allotted 30-60 minutes of “screen time,” after which I finished my chores.  With any luck, my daily tasks were done by dinner, and I could enjoy my evening reading with my family.

A funny thing started happening though once I was a few weeks into each school year.  I’d arrive home and be greeted almost immediately with the urge to use the bathroom and have a snack.  With the snack finished, I’d feel a sense of refreshment that gave me the motivation to do my homework.  My screen time was then even more enjoyable knowing that my homework was behind me.  Finally, my chores were easier to complete knowing that dinner and my relaxing evening where coming shortly.  I was able to flow from one activity to the next without the need to muster any motivation or make any difficult decisions of what to do next.  In fact, it began to feel uncomfortable when I couldn’t complete my snack-to-homework-to-screens-to-chores repertoire after school.  My afternoon routine was effectively on autopilot and had transformed into a habit.

Habit = A routine that has become a behavior with little or no conscious thought.

Of course, the ritual changed as I got older, with snack time becoming a power nap and screen time becoming internet time.  Band practice, sports, and clubs would occasionally alter the exact time at which things would be completed.  Nonetheless, by adding just a little bit of routine and structure to my life, I was able to complete my daily tasks without the burden of deciding the order in which to complete them.  I generally tried to stick to the idea of school à snack à homework à break à chores à evening without much variation. 

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” – Misattributed to Aristotle

Finally, it’s important to consider that some patterns of behavior and habits can eventually leave a person with almost no ability to act differently.  These habits often include substances, which are consumed as part of a habit (caffeine, nicotine, alcohol, other drugs) or produced by one’s own body resulting from the habit (dopamine, adrenaline).  People generally have a harder time making good decision because of their dependence on a substance or behavior, and willpower is removed from the equation as the substance takes control of the body.  Significantly more time, effort, and expertise are required to change the behaviors, and this change often demands an integrative, long-term plan to treat physical symptoms like withdrawal.  These behaviors eliminate the presence of choice entirely and can transform into an addition.

Addiction = A habit with a powerful physiological component that leaves the individual with almost no choice to behave differently.

The word “addiction,” in fact, is derived from a Latin term addictus for ‘enslaved by’ or ‘bound to.’  An addiction often eliminates the ability to consider any alternatives other than the one to which the body and mind are addicted.  For that reason, experts consider addition a disease that often requires medical help to treat properly.  Addictions can range from the relatively mundane (caffeine) to the completely debilitating (certain drugs like heroin).

PUBLIC SAFETY NOTE:  If you or someone you know suffers from addition, please seek professional help.  In the United States, you can call SAMHSA’s National Helpline 1-800-662-HELP.  It is important to understand that addiction is not “just a matter of willpower.”  If your behavior is having a negative impact, or you are putting yourself at risk, or if you are experiencing withdrawal symptoms, it is critical to obtain the proper assistance and treatment from professionals. It is not too late, and help is available.

Moving back to the topic of habits, however, we can examine the idea of building strong behaviors and eliminating/avoiding poor ones.  Consider a simple behavior that (hopefully) we have all learned already: washing your hands.  A young child would have no intuition of this behavior and would need be taught by an adult via repetition after each use of the bathroom.  Ideally, this routine would become a habit that eventually requires no reminders and no thought by the child at all.  At some point, adults should develop an aversion to not washing their hands.

This idea outlines a critical difference between routines and habits.  A new routine often feels comfortable when we skip it.  Skip going to the gym (when you’re not used to it)?  Heck yes!  Stay up late watching YouTube on your phone rather than going to bed?  Sign me up!  Forego budgeting this month since you still have a little money in your account?  No problem!  As a result, routines can be hindered by procrastination and inconsistency.  Habits, on the other hand, often feels uncomfortable when we don’t do them.  Not looking both ways before you cross the street?  Not putting on your seatbelt when you get in the car (I hope…)?  Not peeking at your cell phone when it beeps or buzzes?  Bet the very thought of those things just feels wrong.

Remember Penny? She helps us more easily differentiate between the two

Transforming desired behaviors into routines and habits can be powerful tool to improve your life.  However, it’s important to consider that not all routines can become habits.  Certain activities that behaviors that require concentrated effort or careful deliberation not habits because they will always require effort.  Deep work tasks like reading Shakespeare or writing a doctoral thesis won’t become a habit so don’t blame yourself if particularly challenging tasks never take on the same level of automation as washing your hands.  Nevertheless, you can build a routine or a habit of preparing yourself for deep work, eliminating outside distractions, and organizing your to-do list proactively. 

Routines and habits are particularly crucial when it comes to taking care of your mind and body, like working out, eating well, meditating, and sleeping.  If you can complete these tasks at pre-set times during each day/week, you will drastically improve the time you spend working because all other decisions have already been made for you and your willpower can be entirely devoted to the task at hand.  Both involve the relationship between a stimulus and a response (in my example: school à snack; homework à screen time), and both can be molded to create a favorable outcome (homework and chores completed before dinner).

Of course, we cannot disregard the power of routines and habits to create a not-so-favorable outcome.  The same “magic” that can motivate you to work out without thinking about it can also cause you to act destructively without thinking.  If, for example, you (a) check your beeping phone while you’re speaking to someone in person, or (b) pull into the drive-through during lunchtime or (c) indulge in procrastination until the last minute, you may have developed a habit that is working against your best interests.  Habits are a two-sided coin, so by learning better about the ways in which our behavior is governed by them, we can better assess how to utilize the “good side” of the coin while avoiding the bad side!  The encouraging news is that you can break a bad habit by creating a new habit to replace it.

“[Humans] acquire a particular quality by constantly acting a particular way.” – probably Aristotle

The positive notions of habit-building are very appealing, so much that it seems like everyone from amateur bloggers (*raises hand*) to professional self-help authors seem enthralled with the subject.  It would be perfect if we could simply teach our body to work, eat well, exercise, save money, floss, and call our family members without consuming much will power.  As you might imagine, however, humans need a proper strategy in order to develop productive new habits and stick to them.

How can you build a new routine or habit?  Let’s break it down into some manageable steps;

1) Commit fully and publicly

There’s a great Clayton Christensen quote that says “100% is easier than 98%,” and I firmly believe this.  Giving up soda entirely is easier than giving it up ‘except on special occasions.’  Walking a mile every morning is easier than going once or twice a week “when I have the time.”  Furthermore, tell your friends and family exactly what you’re doing and how you’re doing it.  This isn’t to brag but rather to hold yourself accountable.  Nobody wants to feel the shame of reporting back a week later telling them you quit, so being public (yet humble) about a new habit can be the key to ongoing success.

2) Allot the appropriate time

Most new behaviors take a certain amount of time, so by planning for this in advance, you increase your chances of success.  For example, I complete the monthly budget, check all bank and credit card statements, report any suspicious transactions, and work through ways to improve our finances on the first weekday of every month at the same hour.  I’ve blocked off this time in my calendar and do not allow for conflicts.  Consider doing the same for your goal; give yourself the proper amount of time in advance and minimize any variance from the schedule.  I recommend working on one habit at a time, since it is much easier to find time for a single change than many.

3) Start with a routine

Set a recurring alarm on your phone to remind when you should start and finish.  Then take the first step towards doing it.  The hardest part of going to the gym isn’t the workout itself; it’s getting out of bed and putting on your gym clothes.  If you have a routine of waking up at the same time, putting on your gym clothes, brushing your teeth, getting in the car, and going to the gym, the do that routine every weekday with precision.  If you’re feeling unmotivated, at least get up for the alarm and put on your gym cloths.  Nine times out of ten, you’ll then be motivated to finish the routine.  Finally, make the routine easy for yourself.  For example, you can leave everything ready the night before so your gym gear is accessible – avoid giving yourself an excuse to skip out on your routine.

4) Seek accountability

The buddy system is a powerful force in building better habits.  Whether it’s one person or a group of people, a social circle to keep you accountable can be the difference between success and failure.  Don’t be ashamed; I fully admit that I need accountability when it comes to tasks I sometimes procrastinate like a exercising routinely or writing blog articles.  Your friends and loved ones want to see you succeed, so it’s OK to ask them for support.  After all, the multi-level marketing companies use this social psychology to their advantage, but you can use it to your advantage too.

5) Reward successes

You can support a new routine by giving yourself a reward when you do it, like I did with my screen time after school.  Offer yourself a quick reliable reward at each step, though avoid addictive substances or things that offset your good habit with a bad one (sorry, no ice cream after running for a mile!). 

On this note, some research shows that while experiencing pleasure is indeed motivating, avoiding pain is even more motivating.  This idea can be delicately applied to certain habits.  Things like a buddy system for working out (the fear of being ashamed if you skip a day) or a chore-system (for when you cheat on your diet) can help you mold your behavior.  Be careful when applying punishments for building a long-term habit, since you don’t want to reach the point where you associate the habit with something negative. 

Regardless of your exact method, reinforcement, both positive and negative, really do work!

6) Measure your results periodically

Thou Cannot Manage What Thou Does Not Measure.  It’s important to look back and acknowledge what parts of your routines and habits are working and what aren’t.  The most effective way is to record and measure your successes.  Did you put the right amount of money into savings this month?  What number of days did you make it to the gym? How many articles on TheCentsei did you complete (hopefully all!)? 

Follow these steps and modify based on the behavior or goal you’re trying to accomplish!

Remember, the goal of a productive habit is to minimize the number of decisions needed to complete it successfully.  By committing, starting with a routine, allotting time in advance, seeking accountability, and following through, you will free up the mental space needed to be successful.  A routine and be easier than doing nothing (but thinking about it), and a habit can be easier than a routine.  As Samuel Johnson put it, “The chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken.”

“As it is not one swallow or a fine day that makes a spring, so it is not one day or a short time that makes a man blessed and happy.” — actually Aristotle.

Take some time to consider which behaviors are present in your life today.  Which would you like to make into a routine or habit?  Which would you like to eliminate?  Which would you like to avoid?  As indicated already, it’s OK to acknowledge that some things will take time, some may fail on the first try, and some will not become a habit at all.  Still, you have the ability to build a routine around nearly any goal in life to maximize your chances of success.  You can (it’s our philosophy)!

If you enjoyed this article, you might enjoy some further reading on the topic from one of my favorite bloggers, the very “Centsable” Mr. Money Moustache.  And if you’re wondering what habits to add and what to avoid, tune in for a future article!

The Choice Is Yours: Being A “Lava Lamp Kid” Or A “Tootsie Roll Kid”

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Of the awards and trophies I earned over the years, this lamp, in some ways, is the sweetest.

As a child of the 90’s, there is no question that my life was devoid of certain luxuries that are all but universal in certain parts of the world today.  A tablet was something Indiana Jones might have dug out of the ground, Fortnite was a vocabulary word from Charles Dickens in English class, and Tik Tok was a sound made by my uncle’s creepy clock that kept me awake when I visited his house.  Still, there is at least one thing that most kids today will never get to experience in the same way that we 90’s kids did: Arcades.

Nothing quite beat a warm summer day at the beach with my mother and grandmother.  The sun, the fried dough, the cool water, and the rides came together nicely with our first stop: the arcade. My brother and I would receive $10 in quarters to split evenly and play games for as long as the money lasted us. 

We would invariably start with an exciting match or two of with my grandmother of Street Fighter II or Mortal Kombat.  Nothing gets the summer adrenaline going like the threat of being hit with a devastating “Hadoken” attack by a fierce button-mashing relative!

Trust me, you haven’t learned humility until a 75-year-old beats you at this… repeatedly

Most of our quarters, however, were spent on games that generated tickets rather than pay-til-you-lose classic video games.  Wikipedia even has an article for Redemption Games like this.  Redemption games were games of skill that rewarded the player for achieving a certain score or outcome, and in our case, the reward was tickets. 

Arcades today have cards or even apps for storing tickets, but back in the day, we collected physical tickets.  Eventually, the arcade upgraded to allow for tickets to be redeemed in bulk for larger tickets (100’s) or even slips of paper, but these tickets were bone fide gold.  They represented hours of work and pure arcade game mastery!

Went to Dave & Busters and got this self-stacking pile of tickets
I hope the future generations get to experience the euphoria of hitting the jackpot and seeing this

A little-known secret was that the arcade would let you trade in your tickets for higher value tickets to help you save up.  100 individual tickets could be redeemed for a larger ticket worth 100 make storage a bit easier.

Incredibly, my mother managed to find a few of these lying around the house.  Guess I could buy a hundred Tootsie Rolls for Halloween this year!

My brother and I weren’t your average arcade goers though.  We had a system, a system to generate as many tickets as possible for as few quarters as possible.  This took dozens of trips to the arcade to master a variety of games, but the true secret often involved teamwork, a bit of math, and knowing the behavior of the arcade employees. 

Here were some of our favorites, as well as some of the most ticket-profitable.

Wacky Gator

“I’m gonna get you!”

Teamwork was a must to whack as many of these gators as you could in the limited time you have.  Two boys have four arms and quick reflexes, and the tickets came pouring out.

Feed Big Bertha

“Feed me another one!”

No, this isn’t something out of a Stephen King movie.  Big Bertha was “hungry, hungry, hungry,” but so were we.  With two people throwing plastic balls into her mouth, we could double our ticket output per quarter.  Talk about efficiency!

Pokerino

You were supposed to roll the ball to try to get different winning poker hands, but imagine the possibilities if you had long skinny arms and the arcade employee wasn’t always the most attentive… a four of a kind or a royal flush just might happen to show up and generate tons of tickets.  Is this cheating, or just using biology and oversight to your advantage?  Only time will tell!

Ski Ball

“WOW! 5,000 points!”

Ski Ball was a win-win.  My mother and grandmother loved playing and would often provide some extra quarters to play as a family.  The added bonus?  The family’s tickets were split between the two of us.

Our system did not stop with just maximizing the number of tickets earned per game.  We wanted value for our hard work when it came to the prizes!

The arcade assumes that most children will redeem their tickets on the day they are earned.  Ten dollars’ worth of games might generate 100 tickets to the average kid, so most of the inexpensive prizes were showcased in a glass display in the rear of the arcade.  These prizes would range from a Tootsie Rolls for 2 tickets all the way up to a cheap plastic toy for maybe 200 tickets.

My brother and I had our eyes on something bigger: one of the “shelf prizes.” 

These prizes were on display high above the glass counter on large shelves with huge tags representing the number of tickets needed to earn them: A skateboard for 3,000 tickets, a video game for 5,000, a new TV for 40,000.  The arcade no doubt used these prizes to get kids to spend more money per visit with the illusion that they might hit a jackpot and take one home.  The reality, of course, was that most kids aren’t great at saving would just redeem their tickets that day and never save up enough for a shelf prize.

Among the shelf prize treasures was the object we desired most: the lava lamp. 

This decorative lamp consists of a special-colored wax mixture inside a glass vessel.  When the wax is heated by a special light bulb, the warmed wax rises through the surrounding liquid, cools, loses its buoyancy, and falls back to the bottom of the vessel.  Lava lamps were among the coolest objects a kid in grade school could display in his or her room, but we needed 4,000 tickets for this must-have.

The two of us pooled our tickets together and saved up for several years to earn our lava lamps.  Even when we had enough tickets for one, we held off until we had enough tickets for two – one for each of us.  It wouldn’t surprise me if we made 20+ trips to the arcade over the course of 6-7 years, but we were finally able to obtain our prizes one day.  I don’t remember much about the purchase itself, other than the employee needing to give us one from the back and the one on display, saying something about how “people never actually buy prizes like this.”

If you’re wondering, yes, I still have it, and it’s picture at the top of this post.

I’ll leave the parenting advice to the bloggers who are parents.  However, in the light of this being a personal finance and happiness blog, I did want to share this story in that light (pun somewhat intended).  If you see your kids developing potentially good personal finances habits, like delaying gratification by saving up tickets at the arcade, consider doing everything in your means to foster those habits.  My mother and grandmother could have just as easily made us use our tickets each visit to avoid the hassle of storing them until the next time. Instead, they helped us accumulate tickets over many years and thereby achieve this “financial” goal of ours at a young age.  I found it helped me learn about the value of planning ahead, saving up for something you want, appreciating trade-offs, and exploring how to satisfy my needs given constraints in their resources.

They helped me become a “Lava Lamp Kid,” and other kids have the opportunity to become one too.

100 Money Hacks (that take 5 minutes or less) – Part 4: Health and Wellness

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As I was preparing this article, the fourth installment in our series of money tips, I was listening to a new TED Talk in the background on why it’s so hard to make healthy decisions.  Sometimes, the problem lies in a lack of nutritional education. More commonly, however, we know what we are supposed to do – eat fruits and vegetables, exercise regularly, sleep 7-8 hours per day, stop smoking and drinking, etc. – yet we fall short in nearly all of these areas.

Similarly, some people prescribe poor financial behavior to “not knowing better” and believe education alone can solve our money problems. However, far too often, we do know the right financial behaviors but cannot translate that knowledge into action.

We’ll talk about habits from a variety of perspectives throughout this blog, but it’s valuable to acknowledge that your brain is biologically programmed to act the way you have in the past. That’s why habits can feel like they are so hard to change.

Fear not. It is entirely possible to build new habits that override these predispositions.  What once were your bad habits can be transformed to good habits, one step at a time.

The connection between a healthy body and a healthy wallet is indisputable.  Just a few simple adjustments could begin to improve your life for the better in just 5 minutes.

Make today a day where you do make a change.

Part 1: Budgeting

Part 2: Increasing Income

Part 3: Spending Less

Part 4: Health and Wellness

Part 5: Everything Else!

1) Take the first step towards breaking a bad habit. A bad can take months to break, but you can take the first step today. Always wanted to quit smoking? Throw out every cigarette currently in your house and car. Start exercising? Go for a quick walk, even if it’s just 5 minutes. Stop impulse shopping? Remove a trigger (app, bookmark, e-mail list, auto-login, physical mailing) that results in your shopping. Repeat these every day and watch the bad habit start to disappear.

2) Reinforce a good habit. Research suggests that while we may never truly “break” a habit, we can replace a bad habit with a good one. Positive reinforcement like this is scientifically proven to improve not only your children’s behavior, but also your own, much better than punishment. Psychologists call these “feedback loops,” and you can use them to your advantage. Create your own positive feedback loops, and measure, compare, adjust, and reward them to keep the good habits strong. For example, are you normally good about drinking enough water but worried that the tempting new Starbucks next door could hurt your motivation? Measure. Compare. Adjust. Reward. Get an appropriate sized bottle for the day marked with 8 lines for each hour (measure). Check the clock every hour and compare where you are at on your bottle (compare). If you’re a little behind, take a minute to get to the marker (adjust). When you’ve finished your bottle, treat yourself to a quick break (reward).

3) Schedule a doctor’s appointment. If you’ve been putting off a medical issue – whether it’s as routine as a physical or a significant as a growth or pain – schedule that appointment today. According to the CDC, chronic diseases that are avoidable through preventive care services account for 75 percent of the nation’s healthcare spending and lower economic output in the US by $260 billion dollars a year. In other words, the nominal cost of the appointment will more than pay for itself financially, not even including the intangible benefits of improving your health or avoiding a disaster. On a personal note, a relative of mine put off a colonoscopy for a few years longer than recommended, and they found cancer when he finally had the exam. Please, please do not put this off.

4) Design a realistic exercise schedule for the month. The financial benefits of exercise, not to mention the health ones, are profound. The easiest way to get into exercising regularly is to build it into your routine and stick with it until it becomes a habit. It takes very little time to design a schedule for the entire month. Two years ago, I started walking for 30 minutes every day during lunch. It was hard at first, but now I genuinely look forward to it every day. After that became routine, I started going to the gym with Lady Centsei once or twice per week, which helped keep me accountable. And I hate exercising! If you don’t know where to start, start with even a few minutes per week and build from there. You do have the time if you prioritize, and it’s best to start small. “Plan your routine… until it becomes routine!”

5) Pack your lunch. Packing your own lunch is healthier, faster, and cheaper than going out every day. This one may not even take 5 minutes if you just plan to double or triple a weekly dinner recipe and store the leftovers in lunch-size containers. You’ll save at least $5 per day, which could be $150,000 in retirement and take years off your working life.

6) Talk to your partner or spouse about finances. Financial issues and lack of communication are two of the leading causes of problems for spouses and partners. You can address both at once by having a quick weekly or monthly sit down to check on your finances. Plan your budget, discuss your goals, track your spending, listen to concerns, and talk through mistakes. Avoid the temptation to make it competition and realize that your relationship is a partnership, the most important one in your life. Think about things as “we” and “ours” and you will be successful. You might think this will be stressful or awkward, but not nearly as stressful as fighting about money! Make it fun with a glass of wine, some fancy charts (well, *I* think that’s fun), some positive partner reinforcement… and maybe another glass of wine if things are rough!

7) Remove a physical temptation. We all have things that tempt us towards bad or unhealthy behavior. That candy jar at your desk; that sweet cable TV package; that rewards credit card; that pack of cigarettes; that secret junk food shelf; that expansive alcohol shelf; that phone number of a toxic “friend” or ex. Free yourself and get rid of it today.

8) Delete a time-wasting app or distraction… permanently. Similar to the above. Quick story: A few years back, I downloaded 2048, a simple but highly-addictive puzzle game about numbers. It was love at first swipe. I logged almost 50 hours in the three months that it was on my phone before I fully realized its impact on my time. After less than a week of very mild separation anxiety, I was completely over it and never even regretted not getting that 16384 square (so close!). How much time to you spend on “that” app on your phone or tablet? Too much. Replace it with a better habit.

9) Take a walk. Taking a 5-minute walk a few times per day is an excellent way to reduce stress, regain focus, and get exercise. I try to walk 5 minutes every hour during the work day and find it great for my productivity (and step goal).

10) Brush and floss your teeth. Only 70% of people brush twice a day. Less than 30% of people floss every day, and 8% never floss. The financial impact is real. Don’t put it off. Those who don’t brush twice per day? 33% increased risk of tooth decay (read: thousands of dollars in dentist bills). Those who don’t floss? 40% increase risk of gum disease (linked to heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, and premature births). The reason your “gums hurt” when you floss is because you don’t floss, and bacteria has taken over your mouth. Mouthwash is not a substitute. It might hurt the first time, but it will improve in less than a week.

11) Close one (or all) of your social media accounts. Unless you use social media exclusively to follow your favorite bloggers (or for work), permanently deleting your social media accounts is the way to go. According to Statista, people spend 153 minutes (over 2.5 hours) per day on social media. And that number is increasing over time. You could accomplish everything on this list in a week (and likely be able to retire 10+ years earlier) if you replace social media time with time spent doing things on these lists to improve your financial and physical health. Social media’s effect on your wallet is compounded not only by the wasted time but also the constant advertisements and poor social cues. Other than TheCentsei Twitter account (which I limit to a few minutes per week), I recently uninstalled all social media apps, deleted the bookmarks in my browsers, turned off the auto-sign in, and disabled all e-mail notifications. I truly haven’t missed it for a second. Free yourself.

12) Drink more water. The health benefits are truly countless, but those who drink enough water snack less, burn more calories, and have significantly lower medical costs. The best option in most parts of the U.S. is tap water, which is 2,000x cheaper than bottled water and 5,000-10,000x cheaper than juice, soda, or alcohol – not to mention the health benefits. Bottoms up!

13) Do a 5-minute exercise. The benefits between “a little exercise” vs “no exercise” are many times greater than “tons of exercise” vs “a little exercise.” It doesn’t really matter what either, if you’re doing your best. You do have 5 minutes per day. With time, maybe that 5 minutes becomes 30, and your life can be transformed. One study showed that older people who exercise 30 minutes per day 5 days per week save an average of $2,500 in heart disease related expenses alone. That’s like getting paid over $20 per hour to exercise! Whether you’re on your own, with a friend, or in a class, the best exercise is the kind you do.

14) Meditate. One of the greatest life-changing habits I developed in the last few years was that of doing a few minutes of guided meditation before bed. I fall asleep faster, wake up more rested, and keep my stress tangibly lower. Better still, the apps and YouTube videos to get you started are free.

15) Go to the library. The day I rediscovered libraries was a happy one indeed. Physical books, audio books, music, movies, and museum/event passes are available for free. Don’t miss out. I feel so much better about going to the library than buying junk that I’ll maybe use once, so the impact on wellness is very real too.

16) Contact or join a volunteer program. There are few downsides to filling your time with meaningful work. Nonetheless, there’s also truth in the Avenue Q lyrics that “when you help others, you can’t help helping yourself!” Tongue-and-cheek aside, building your social network and your skill sets through volunteerism, while at the same time improving your community, is a genuine win-win.

17) Call, text, e-mail, or write a note to someone you care about. While this may not seem like a money-saver, the fact remains that friendships are essential for your long-term happiness, and maintaining adult friendships takes serious work. Real friends, not social media friends or followers. A study of 300,000 people showed that people with strong social ties outlive those with the weakest by 22%, regardless of age or health status. Stay in touch with your past professional contacts as well; most people find a job with assistance from someone in their network.

18) Make a low-cost gift for a loved one. Give your labor or craftsmanship, all while improving your connection to people you care about. If you like to draw, sew, write, craft, repair, babysit, tinker, or brew, consider including a homemade gift or the gift of your time in place of something costly. It will mean more to the other person too.

19) Declutter. Just a few minutes of decluttering per week is priceless for your mental health but also produces tangible savings. You avoid replacements costs when know what you have, where it is, and what condition it’s in. You also avoid paying for storage space, additions to your house, and cleaning expenses.

20) Practice a new language. 5 minutes a few times per day can be enough to master a new language. Download a free app or find a language buddy to help – both can help great a positive feedback loop! In addition to just being a great skill and improving your overall emotional health, a Columbia University study showed that being multilingual had a positive effect on earnings (specifically for Spanish/English bilingualism in the United States).