BiggerPockets Money Podcast · Friday, September 25, 2026
To combat impulse spending, Kate implemented strategies to create friction, such as removing shopping apps from her phone and deleting saved credit card information from online platforms. She also found that leaving items in a shopping cart for a period allowed her to reconsider purchases.
“First of all, I created friction for myself. That comprised of removing shopping apps from my phone. It was taking my credit card numbers that were saved in things like my browser wallet.”
“So it was, you know, I actually had to get up off the couch, go get my wallet, type in my credit card number, and in the 30 to 60 seconds that it takes to do that, or even just the effort of getting off the couch, it made me think, do I really need that right now?”
“I also have a tendency to leave things in a shopping cart for a little while, whether that's 24 hours or a week. And more often than not, by the time that week rolls by, you're like, I don't really want that thing anymore. I could live without it for a week.”