How to control your spending without checking your balance every hour

By Samuel Anwakang, Co-founder of Delight•Updated

Spending gets away from you when every payment draws from the same pool and nothing speaks up until the money is gone. Give everyday spending a daily or weekly allowance, cap single payments where you tend to overspend, and see the budget's balance at the moment you pay, not at the end of the month.

Why spending gets away from you

Most everyday spending isn't one big decision. It's twenty small ones a day, each made in a few seconds, each against the same balance.

A single balance gives no signal until it's low. ₦2,500 on food delivery doesn't feel different on the 3rd of the month than on the 23rd, even though on the 23rd that money was meant for something else. Checking the balance every hour is a way of trying to create a signal the account doesn't give you.

Resisting in the moment is the hardest way to do it. Self-control research suggests that changing the situation before temptation arrives may be especially effective, more than fighting it at the till.[1]

What helps, with or without Delight

  1. Give everyday spending a fixed amount per day or week. A daily ₦3,300 is easier to live within than a ₦99,000 lump sum, because you can see today's limit. Splitting an amount into smaller portions slows how fast it's used, because each portion adds a small moment of decision.[2]
  2. Cap single payments where you overspend. If one order from an online vendor keeps turning into three, a limit per payment makes the next one stop and ask.
  3. Keep fixed costs out of reach. Rent and bills shouldn't be in the balance you spend from.
  4. Give enjoyment its own money. A budget for things you want means you can buy them without guilt, and without taking from rent.
  5. Let the boundary speak at the moment you pay, not in a report at the end of the month. How closely a payment is tied to what it's for changes how people spend.[3]

Set it up in Delight

  1. Create an Everyday budget for food, transport and small spending, and separate budgets for anything you want to handle on its own, such as Eating Out or Shopping.
  2. Put drip mode on Everyday. Choose Daily, Weekly (it resets every Monday), Week Days, Week End or a custom length, and an amount of at least ₦100. Only the Available Drip can be spent, and wallet top-ups can't increase it.
  3. Add a spending limit where you overspend. Open the budget, tap Add Control and choose a Per-Transaction Limit (for example, no single payment above ₦5,000) or a Period Spending Limit (a total for the next 24 hours, every weekend, every weekday, the whole budget period or a custom length).
  4. Know what going over costs. With a ₦10,000 limit, a ₦12,000 payment is ₦2,000 over, so the penalty is ₦100. Delight shows this and asks you to confirm or cancel before anything happens.
  5. Lock money that must wait, such as rent, so it isn't part of everyday spending at all. See how to lock your money.
  6. Pay from the budget the payment is for. The budget's balance is the answer to "can I afford this?", and it's in front of you when you pay.

Or set it up in one message

Send this to Delight AI in the app. It asks for your amounts, shows every step and waits for your approval.

Help me control my everyday spending. Put a daily drip on my everyday budget and a limit on single payments where I overspend. Ask me which budget and the amounts.

Delight AI is off until you turn it on in Settings › Customize › Delight AI. Anything that sends money out asks for your transaction PIN.

Free to download. No subscription.

What Delight can’t do

  • Delight doesn't block shops or apps. Controls act on money in your Delight budgets, not on what you buy elsewhere.
  • A spending limit can be exceeded. It warns you, tells you the penalty and asks you to confirm. If you go ahead, 5% of the amount above the limit is taken from the budget. Drip mode is the control that can't be exceeded.
  • Scheduled automations aren't blocked by spending limits and aren't charged the penalty, because you set them up in advance. Locks and drip mode do apply to them.

Questions people ask

How do I control my spending habits?
Change what happens at the moment you pay. Give everyday spending a fixed daily or weekly amount, cap single payments in the places you overspend, and keep money for fixed costs out of reach. Habits change more easily when the easy choice and the planned choice are the same.
How do I stop spending all my money on food?
Give food its own budget and release it daily, for example ₦3,000 a day. If eating out is where it goes, give eating out a separate weekly amount. You still eat what you want, from money meant for it, and the rest of the month is protected.
How do I stop impulse buying?
Put a pause and a boundary between the urge and the payment. A limit on single payments makes a large unplanned buy stop and ask you first. A separate budget for things you want lets you buy them without taking from rent or food. More on stopping impulse buying online.
What's the difference between drip mode and a spending limit?
Drip mode makes only a set amount spendable each day or week, and it can't be exceeded. A spending limit sets a boundary you can go over after confirming, with a 5% penalty on the amount above it.
Is it bad to spend money on things I enjoy?
No. Enjoyment is a real purpose. The problem is when it comes out of money meant for rent or food. Give it its own budget and spend it without guilt.

For your situation

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Sources

  1. [1]Duckworth, A. L., Gendler, T. S., & Gross, J. J. (2016). Situational Strategies for Self-Control. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 11(1), 35–55.
  2. [2]Cheema, A., & Soman, D. (2008). The Effect of Partitions on Controlling Consumption. Journal of Marketing Research, 45(6), 665–675.Setting: Lab studies.
  3. [3]Prelec, D., & Loewenstein, G. (1998). The Red and the Black: Mental Accounting of Savings and Debt. Marketing Science, 17(1), 4–28.

Plan the money. Fund the plan. Spend from the plan.

In Delight, each purpose is a budget that holds its own money, and every payment comes from the budget it serves.