Top 7 'Doom-Scroll-Proofing' Financial Habits to learn for Curing Your 'TikTok-Made-Me-Buy-It' Budget this year - Goh Ling Yong
It’s 11 PM. The house is quiet, and you’re winding down after a long day. You open TikTok for “just five minutes.” An hour later, you’re deep in a rabbit hole of mesmerizing cleaning hacks, life-changing kitchen gadgets, and that one serum that promises to solve all your skin problems. Before you know it, your shopping cart is full, your credit card is out, and you’ve just contributed to the multi-billion dollar phenomenon known as #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. Social media platforms are engineered to be incredibly effective sales funnels. Their algorithms know your desires better than you do, serving up an endless, personalized stream of temptations. This constant exposure can wreak havoc on even the most well-intentioned budget, leading to a cycle of impulse buys, buyer’s remorse, and the nagging feeling that your money is disappearing into a digital void. It’s a modern financial challenge that requires a modern solution.
But what if you could rewire your brain and your budget to be resilient to this digital pressure? What if you could scroll with confidence, knowing you have a system in place to protect your financial goals? This year, it’s time to cure your 'TikTok-Made-Me-Buy-It' budget for good. It’s not about depriving yourself of joy; it's about reclaiming control and spending with intention. Here are seven powerful, "doom-scroll-proof" financial habits to get you started.
1. Implement the 24-Hour 'Cool-Off' List
The magic of social media shopping lies in its immediacy. You see it, you want it, you buy it—all within a few taps. This frictionless process bypasses the logical part of your brain and appeals directly to your emotions. The most effective way to short-circuit this impulse is to introduce a mandatory waiting period. This isn't about saying "no" forever; it's about saying "not right now."
When you see an item you’re tempted to buy, instead of adding it to your cart, add it to a dedicated "Cool-Off List." This can be a note on your phone, a spreadsheet, or a physical notebook. Write down the item, its price, and where you saw it. Then, close the app and walk away. Commit to not thinking about it or making a purchase decision for at least 24 hours. For bigger purchases, you might even extend this to 72 hours or a full week.
This simple delay does something powerful: it separates the emotional "want" from the rational "need." After 24 hours, the dopamine hit from the initial discovery has faded. You can now look at the item more objectively. Ask yourself: Do I already own something similar? Does this align with my current financial goals? Will I actually use this, or is it just a novelty? More often than not, you'll find the intense urge to buy has vanished, and you can confidently delete the item from your list, saving your money for something that truly matters.
2. Curate Your Feed for Financial Wellness
Your social media feed is not a random collection of content; it's a carefully cultivated environment designed to hold your attention. The algorithm learns from every like, share, and second you spend on a video. If you constantly engage with "haul" videos and product reviews, it will feed you more of the same. The good news is that you can actively train it to work for you, not against your budget.
Start by doing a "financial follow audit." Go through the accounts you follow and be ruthless. Unfollow any influencer whose content consistently makes you feel like you need to buy something to be happy, stylish, or organized. Replace them with accounts that promote financial literacy, minimalism, or using what you already have. Look for creators who do "shop your stash" challenges, or who talk about long-term value and sustainable consumption.
This is about more than just avoiding temptation; it's about shifting your entire mindset. When your feed is filled with inspiration for saving money, investing wisely, and finding joy in non-material things, your financial goals stay top-of-mind. Instead of a feed that drains your wallet, you’ll be building one that enriches your financial life. You’re turning a tool of consumption into a tool for education and empowerment.
3. Build a 'Pay Yourself First' Fortress
Impulse spending thrives on available cash. If the money is sitting in your checking account, it feels spendable. The single most powerful habit to combat this is to make your savings non-negotiable by automating them. This is the principle of "paying yourself first"—treating your savings and investment goals with the same importance as your rent or mortgage.
Set up automatic transfers from your checking account to your savings, retirement, or investment accounts. Schedule these transfers for the day you get paid. This way, the money is moved before you even have a chance to see it and mentally allocate it to that viral sunset lamp. What's left in your checking account is then what you truly have available for bills and discretionary spending. This creates a psychological barrier; the money for your goals is already "gone," making it much harder to justify pulling it back for a fleeting purchase.
As a long-time advocate for financial planning, Goh Ling Yong often emphasizes that building wealth is less about huge windfalls and more about consistent, disciplined actions. Automating your savings is the cornerstone of this discipline. Start small if you need to—even $50 per paycheck makes a difference. The goal is to build a fortress around your savings that is impervious to the daily siege of online temptations.
4. Create 'Sinking Funds' for Guilt-Free Spending
Budgeting often gets a bad rap for being restrictive. The secret to a successful, long-term financial plan isn’t about eliminating fun; it’s about planning for it. This is where "sinking funds" come in. A sinking fund is simply a savings account where you put aside a small amount of money regularly for a specific, non-emergency goal.
Instead of letting TikTok dictate your "fun" spending, you take control. Want the new gaming console that’s coming out in six months? Want to go on a weekend trip? Want to buy a high-quality coat for winter? Create a sinking fund for each. You can do this by opening multiple savings accounts and nicknaming them (e.g., "Vacation Fund," "New Tech Fund") or by using a budgeting app that allows you to create digital "envelopes."
By allocating, say, $50 a month to your "Weekend Trip" fund, you are making a conscious choice. When you see a tempting $50 gadget online, the decision is no longer just "$50 vs. a cool gadget." It becomes, "Is this gadget more important than the weekend trip I’ve been intentionally saving for?" This re-frames spending as a trade-off against your own stated goals, not an abstract dip into a pool of cash. It allows you to spend on the things you truly value, completely guilt-free, because you planned for it.
5. Master the 'One-In, One-Out' Rule
The #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt trend contributes not only to financial strain but also to physical clutter. Our homes become filled with things we were convinced we needed but now rarely use. The "one-in, one-out" rule is a beautifully simple habit that tackles both problems simultaneously. The rule is exactly what it sounds like: for every new non-consumable item you bring into your home, one similar item must leave.
Thinking of buying a new pair of sneakers you saw online? Great. Which pair of sneakers currently in your closet are you going to donate or sell? Want that trendy new water bottle? Which one of the five you already own is it replacing? This forces a moment of honest evaluation. It shifts the question from "Do I want this?" to "Do I want this more than what I already have?"
This practice encourages mindful consumption. You become acutely aware of what you own and whether a new purchase will genuinely add value or just add to the clutter. It slows down the purchasing process and helps you appreciate the items you've already invested your money in. You might even discover that the item you were considering getting rid of is one you still love, effectively killing the desire for the new purchase altogether.
6. Add Financial Friction by Unlinking Everything
Online retailers and social media platforms have spent billions of dollars to make the path from "discovery" to "purchase" as seamless as possible. One-click checkout, saved credit card information, and mobile payment systems like Apple Pay are all designed to remove any "friction" that might make you pause and reconsider. Your job is to intentionally put that friction back into the process.
Go into your browser settings, your Amazon account, and your favorite shopping apps and delete your saved credit card information. Log out of PayPal. By doing this, you eliminate the possibility of a truly mindless, one-tap purchase. When you’re tempted to buy something, you will now have to physically get up, find your wallet, and manually type in your 16-digit card number, expiration date, and CVV.
This small, seemingly insignificant barrier is incredibly effective. It gives your logical brain a few crucial moments to catch up with your emotional impulse. In that brief pause, you have a window to ask, "Do I really need this?" It’s a simple, tech-based trick that uses inconvenience to your advantage, saving you from countless dollars in regrettable impulse buys. As I often share with clients at my practice, making smart financial choices is often about designing an environment where the right choice is the easier (or at least more deliberate) one.
7. Perform the 'Cost-Per-Use' Reality Check
The price tag on an item tells only a fraction of its story. A cheap price doesn't always mean good value, and an expensive price doesn't always mean it's a rip-off. To truly understand the value of a potential purchase, especially for things like clothing, gadgets, or home goods, get into the habit of calculating its "cost-per-use."
The formula is simple: Total Cost of Item ÷ Number of Times You Realistically Expect to Use It = Cost-Per-Use. Let’s apply this to a typical social media temptation. You see a trendy, brightly-colored shacket for $60. It’s a very specific style that will likely be out of fashion by next year. You might realistically wear it 10 times. That’s a cost-per-use of $6. Now, consider a classic, high-quality neutral trench coat for $240. It seems much more expensive upfront. But if it’s a timeless piece you’ll wear 120 times over the next five years, its cost-per-use is just $2.
This mental calculation completely reframes the purchase. It moves your focus from the short-term thrill of a bargain to the long-term value of an investment. It helps you resist the allure of fast fashion and cheap gadgets that break after a few uses. By prioritizing a low cost-per-use, you’ll naturally start building a life with fewer, better things that serve you well for years to come, which is the ultimate win for both your wallet and your peace of mind.
Take Back Control, One Habit at a Time
The endless scroll of perfectly curated products isn't going away. The algorithms will only get smarter. But that doesn't mean you have to be a passive participant in your own financial life. By building these seven habits, you are creating a powerful defense system—a financial firewall that protects your goals from the relentless noise of digital consumerism.
It’s not about perfection; it’s about progress. You don’t need to implement all of these at once. Pick one that resonates with you the most and commit to it for the next 30 days. Maybe you start with the 24-hour cool-off list or spend 15 minutes this weekend unlinking your credit cards.
These small, intentional acts are how you transform your relationship with money. You shift from being a reactive spender, swayed by the latest trend, to a proactive architect of your financial future. You prove to yourself that your long-term goals are more satisfying than any short-term impulse buy.
Now it's your turn. Which of these "doom-scroll-proofing" habits are you going to try first? Share your choice in the comments below!
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
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