If you’ve ever made a purchase that seemed like a good idea at the time but ended up collecting dust, this episode is for you.
In this episode of Money Files, I introduce you to The Pause Method, a simple but powerful five-step tool that helps you stop impulse spending and make intentional, values-aligned decisions with your money.
Most of us make purchases in the moment, convinced we’re buying something useful, needed, or “on sale.” But when those purchases pile up, they quietly drain our accounts and delay the financial goals that matter most. The Pause Method helps you catch those moments before they happen so you can spend with awareness, not guilt.
I walk you through how to perform an ROI Spending Audit to review your past purchases, uncover what brought real joy or value, and identify what was driven by stress, convenience, or emotion. Then, I’ll teach you how to apply The Pause Method before every purchase using five key questions that protect your wealth: Purpose, Alignment, Usefulness, Sustainability, and Effect.
This is one of the most practical mindset tools I teach in coaching, and once you use it, you’ll see how small moments of mindfulness can add up to thousands of dollars saved without sacrificing your joy.
Listen in to learn:
[01:20] How impulse purchases quietly sabotage your goals
[03:45] The one skill that can free up thousands, without earning more
[06:10] What a personal ROI Spending Audit reveals about your habits
[08:25] The five steps of The Pause Method (P.A.U.S.E.)
[10:45] Why aspirational purchases lead to financial clutter
[14:30] How to stop using “fake math” to justify small expenses
[17:50] The connection between mindfulness and wealth building
[21:10] How The Pause Method accelerates your Five Figure Reinvention
Tune into this episode of Money Files to learn how The Pause Method can help you stop impulse spending, reclaim your wealth, and build financial confidence that lasts.
Are you ready to start asking for help with your finances? Apply to work with me, and let’s start working towards your financial goals.
If you loved hearing about The Pause Method, check out Episode 143: Stop, Think, Spend: Implementing a Money Pause for Better Financial Decisions. It’s the perfect follow-up to help you strengthen your spending awareness and make every purchase an intentional one.
Transcript for “The Pause Method: How to Stop Impulse Spending and Reclaim Your Wealth”
Intro: Hi and welcome to Money Files. I’m Keina Newell from Wealth Over Now. I work everyday with professional women and solopreneurs to help them get out of financial overwhelm and shame so they can experience more flexibility and ease with their finances. Are you ready to gain confidence and learn to manage your finances intentionally? Tune in and grab financial tips that will help you master the way you think about and manage your finances.
Keina: So I’m going to just jump right in and I want to tell you a story about me being in the airport last week. I was standing there and I saw this guy who had a neck fan around his neck and I started laughing on the inside, not at him. Don’t worry, I wasn’t being a mean girl. But I started laughing because this summer I too purchased neck fans and I was at Costco. Anything at Costco is like a value pack. So there was two neck fans that you get, they were on an end cap. I was like, oh yes, like I need those, these are calling my name. And I was thinking about, I’m going to take them home, I’m going to give my mom one, we’re going use them at the rodeo this summer and it’s going to be hot outside but we are going to be okay because we’re going to have our neck fans. And it made total sense. But if I were being honest, I would not recommend neck fans.
And I realized in reflecting on that purchase that it was a classic, I am totally going to use this. Like future me was like, yes Keina, you are going to use this and future me did not. I was being heavily influenced by them being at the end of this end cap and I did not take a moment at all to really think about, are these going to be functional and do the thing that I think they’re going to do. So if you’re new here, hello, welcome back to Money Files. Welcome to Money Files for the first time. My name is Keina and I am the financial coach behind Wealth Over Now. But today we’re going to do something fun, a little nosy and honestly I think it’s going to be really revealing for you, but we’re going to be talking about your favorite things, kind of like Oprah, but maybe not quite like Oprah.
And we’re going to be doing what I call an ROI spending audit. So here’s what I mean, you’re going to look back at what you bought this year and you’re going to think about like what felt amazing. And then I also want you to think about what are the things that made you hide from either the UPS driver or you don’t want to go into the store and return it because he’s seen you three days this week. I can’t be the only one that’s guilty of this, but we are going to be looking and thinking about why this is important for us. And the reason it’s important for us to know the ROI of our spending is because when we’re working towards like a big financial goal, like saving or paying off five figures, there’s one skill that quietly frees up thousands of dollars for us and it’s called pause.
And by the end of this episode you’ll be using it today. So let’s just flip the script a little on this neck fan energy and let’s start with the good stuff. The purchases that actually made you excited this year. The things that brought you joy, the things that you feel like are worth it, the purchases that you think back like oh my goodness, I would buy this again or maybe you would even buy it for friend. So for me, one of the things that I’ve loved this year are Nick’s underwear, specifically the boxers. They are incredibly comfortable and I have had the thought several times, I actually got the boxers a couple weeks ago and I’ve several times thought like I need to get all of my girlfriends a pair of these for Christmas. Like this is what needs to be the gift. I don’t care if you don’t think you need it, you need these. It’s one of those purchases for me.
And then this year of course there’s also experiences that I loved. Being able to have dinner with my friends, especially when I’m traveling and going out of town. Trips that create memories. I have a trip coming up in a couple of weeks. I’m going to go see Brandy and Monica. I don’t know if this podcast is going to come out before or after that, but like that’s something that I’m really excited about or just being able to, anytime that I can gather with people that I love, then I am pretty much always going to spend money on that because it allows me to, like being able to engage in laughter and joy is always healing for my soul. So those purchases for me have ROI because they create joy or comfort, connection and ease.
So my question for you is what did you buy this year that gave you that feeling? Not what someone else told you it would give you, like Instagram, but what actually made your life better? When you actually study what you loved, you’re going to start to see what actually matters to you. But ROI isn’t just about like joy. Some of the best money that I’ve spent this year wasn’t necessarily joy filled money, but it was functional and it paid off in ways that I think I didn’t really realize would benefit me. So one of those things is hiring a home organizer. And actually this is from like, this isn’t even actually this year but I’m still benefiting from it. But a few years ago, one of my friends, she’s a home organizer and I hired her just to come and make my space more functional. Like that was her skill and her expertise. So she had me move things out of where they were in my house and group things together and helped me just edit things down.
And what I realized that it wasn’t really about like ooh, having a pretty closet or having pretty containers. She actually doesn’t really care about the containers which I love. But making sure that everything had a home, a very clear and distinct home so you could easily see if something is out of place. And what she did for me was gave me mental space, so I can put all of my dishes back easily. I feel like my kitchen is kind of small and so being able to put my dishes back easily relieves me because I can actually have a clean kitchen and reset everything. Things aren’t out on the counter. And so that’s what that purchase did for me.
I would say another one is even in years past I’ve hired an in-home chef if I host people and I’ve done brunches, I’ve done dinners and that ROI of course we’ve had some good food but it was also about community. And then I get connection and I also get to be present without feeling anxious because I’m the person that I do have people over and I’m hosting. I’m also using my nervous energy to clean up at the same time and I don’t sit down. So that’s why, for me that purchase, it has an ROI.
So my question for you is what purchase gave you time back this year? What bought you peace of mind. And when you look at these kinds of purchases, you’re going to be able to see support, ease, clarity. And these are purchases we want to repeat and they’re often different from maybe what we expect. So we’ve celebrated or have had you thinking about what you would celebrate with your purchases and let’s talk about the purchases that are growing dust in your closet. And you don’t have to raise your hand, you don’t immediately have to send me a DM, but just think about it, right? These are the purchases you didn’t love, you didn’t use, or they just felt like, [nah] once they actually arrived. And if you need help remembering what those are, I would invite you to think about the things that you purchased on Amazon Prime Day. Those prime day purchases I think will really, really humble you.
So I can tell you my own confession, is a few years ago this is why I think about Amazon Prime, it’s like I bought a charcuterie board and a set of hiking sticks on Amazon Prime Day. And I don’t hate them, I’ve actually used them, but I haven’t used them in the way that like that urge and that pressure that I was putting on myself to buy them in the moment. Like they were definitely things that I bought because I was in the virtual checkout line, I was like ooh, I need to grab something that’s a good deal. And so I have these hiking sticks that just sit in my garage and I have a charcuterie board. I’ve actually invited people over because it’s forced me to use the charcuterie board. But in my day to day, if those two things left my life, I would not experience a difference. They just don’t have a high ROI for me.
I can honestly reflect back and say those are things that I didn’t need, but I have a laundry list of things that I could tell you about that I would say these are things I didn’t need. I bought them, they were impulsive purchases and I did not slow myself down enough to make sure that those purchases didn’t come into my home. And so for you, you’re going to have the same experience when you’re thinking about your purchases and I want you to notice them because I want you to notice your own patterns and your patterns and my patterns they might be similar, they might be different, but whatever they are, I want you to notice them. Like I can notice my neck fan purchase, I can notice my prime day, like random things that I feel like I needed and they’re aspirational purchases that never really create the thing that I think they’re going to create.
And in reflecting on my own spending, whether it’s quarter to quarter, looking at the spending in the last like 30 days or in the last year, I can see where even for myself I have money leaks. And so this is where fake math can slip in, especially when we feel like, we don’t spend that much money and that’s how fake math shows up here because we allow ourselves to do things and buy things because they’re not that much money or we think we might use it. It was on sale. Oh I’m going to buy this because I’ve always wanted one.
So we want to stop and think about these things because they will literally, literally buy us back thousands of dollars in our life. And we want to look at this because the future you is asking for a different financial situation, like you want to be able to save money, you want to be able to pay off debt. But the fake math part of you is saying like, I don’t really spend money like that Keina, I don’t really do that much Keina. And if we actually sat down and looked at the numbers, our numbers would say something different. So I’m not telling you these things to make you feel bad, but I’m telling you because I want you to be able to start to catch yourself before you click buy. And I call it pause, like it is literally like I’ve alluded to it already because when I feel it in my body it is literally like I need to slow myself down. And when I’m like having these urges to buy something.
And we’re in a time of the year especially where everything is like, oh, oh, oh I got to get it, like it’s on sale right now, I need to buy it. And the noise is really loud. And so if you can get a moment to turn off the noise and just sit with yourself and do this exercise, you’re going to come out of this season richer, less poor because you can know thyself. So the pause method is a quick mindfulness check that’s going to help you stop being reactive with your spending and make more aligned decisions. So one of my clients has started using pause and she’s just caught $400 in just random purchases in a single month. And just to be able to have the awareness to say like, oh my goodness, like if I had allowed myself to make the Black Friday purchase, that would’ve been $200 and if I had have bought that other subscriptions, that would’ve been another a hundred dollars.
It is literally that type of return on investment immediately in terms of keeping money in your bank. But also there’s a compound effect of using pause because you are going to have a minimalist budget if you will, in terms of the things that you are spending on. You are going to love the things that you do add to your spending, you’re going to love, but you’re also going to honor your financial goals of saying like, okay, this year I have a five figure savings goal. I have a five figure savings goal that I want to hit in the next two years or whatever that is. But it’s going to protect your savings and if you’re in a place where you are paying off debt, it’s going to protect you being able to pay off your debt because you’re not going to be adding to your debt. And if you are my client or you work with me, we’re going to be saving and paying off debt at the same time. So it’s protecting both.
So sorry, let me get back to the pause method. So before you say yes to any purchases, I just want you to walk through these five questions, like you should put them in the notes app on your phone, make them a screensaver if you need to, but really sit with this. So the P is for purpose. Why am I adding this? What problem is it actually solving? So with the neck fans, my problem was really hypothetical, especially in that moment. I wasn’t hot Costco, air inside fine, but future Keina was at a rodeo, and not real Keina to date. She didn’t actually need anything. But I was thinking about like, oh you know I was hot a year ago at a friend’s birthday party and so if I ever have that experience again, these fans will save me. So that was like the purpose that I was telling myself.
Then I want you to think about A. A is for alignment. Does this fit the season I’m in right now? So if I pull in the charcuterie board, it sounded great, but if I’m not actually hosting, it’s just in a box somewhere. So I’m buying for future me and I would say like if I think about my money personality slash money story, there’s this narrative that’s like, ooh, I need to buy this just in case so I’ll have it just in case. But what I’ve noticed is that I buy things that are aspirational and they’re not actually functional. And so I’ve had to slow myself down a lot on those purchases. I think the charcuterie board goes in there, I think the neck fan goes in there. I think shoes that I bought on sale, they fit this description. I think a great place to even think about. I’ve heard other people say this and I would say it’s actually true. If you weren’t willing to pay full price for it, would you still buy it?
And so I think the things that we’re willing to pay full price for, at least for me, they’re like a little bit higher quality. So thinking about the shoes example or clothing purchases, like would we pay full price for that thing? We probably, like if you are willing to pay, $600 for a coat that you saw, like you probably really love it, versus you find it and you start having a conversation with yourself about like, oh, this used to be a $600 purse, now it’s only, $200, I’m getting such a great deal. So just the desire for the purchase comes from a different place and we got to be careful. That’s how you end up with things in your closet that are on sale, that have tags on it. Like that’s the cycle that it creates.
Alright, let’s go to U. So P is for purpose, A is for alignment, U is for usefulness. Will this make my life easier or more joyful today? Not my hypothetical someday, but actually today. Like do we see the usefulness? And for some of you, this is going to be really hard because you’re like, no, no, no, like the future me is going to get in there. But like really think about what are the things that you’re adding into your life that are hypothetical purchases.
S is for sustainability, can I manage this purchase for the next three to six months without debt, without sacrifice, without additional pressure? This I think is definitely where with sustainability, some of you are going to say like no Keina, I can do it. But even just think about, how are you making the purchase right now? Are you making the purchase with debt? Then this isn’t sustainable for you. The sustainability also is thinking about the purchases that you can put a subscription even on your credit card. If you don’t have a clear budget, you might not have a clear understanding of whether or not it’s adding debt for you. But sometimes we add things into our life and they’re creating debt and they’re making us delay other goals that we have. So we can say, oh, I’m going to add this $100 subscription to my life or this $200 habit to my life, but that might mean that I am not putting $200 in my savings for auto repair or I’m not putting $200 additional towards my credit card. And so we got to be able to have that honest conversation with ourselves about, is this something that’s sustainable or am I silently committing to a trade off?
And then E is for effect, what will this replace or delay? So I kind of have gotten into this a little bit already, but will this $50 purchase slow down my savings goal? Like is it actually worth it? And I don’t want you to hear me say like that $50 purchase is bad. It’s not that. But the problem within this, it goes back to fake math, is that we’re usually, it’s not just one $50, it’s $50 every other week that we are allowing ourselves to spend. And that $50 is really $100 a month and it’s $1,200 a year. So someone who’s telling me, Keina, I can’t save money, I’m like, but you could have had that first thousand dollars savings if you were able to just slow yourself down and see where you’re leaking money because you don’t pause and you just spend out of urge. It’s a very different conversation. It’s not a deprivation conversation, it’s an awareness conversation. So I know that I said a lot in the last couple of minutes, but just remember the word pause because it’s literally just the act of like just pump the brakes a little bit. Pump the brakes. Is this purchase actually working for me or am I working for it? You can just ask yourself that question and pause once again.
It doesn’t mean don’t spend, but it means like spend with awareness, spend with the intention of someone who is building wealth, of someone who is honoring their own choices because the truth is you can have wealth and you can have nice shoes, you can have wealth and you can have monthly massages, but you also have to set up the structure for you to be able to build well so you can also have the massages. Like I want to make sure that we have a both end approach to our money. So I think pause on its own is very, very powerful, but when you combine it with a bigger picture, that’s when the numbers really start to move for you. So you’ve heard me talk about, I think it was two episodes ago, maybe three episodes at this point, about a five figure reinvention. And that is my call to action for you, if you will, that I want you to start your five figure reinvention before January.
I don’t want you thinking about how you’re going to start getting your finance together in January. And the five figure reinvention is a process and a mentality about either saving $10,000 or paying off $10,000 of debt. And I want us to be able to do it not with restriction, but with redirection. And one of the skills that we’re using there is pause because it’s going to make it happen faster. So when you pause, you get to catch money leaks before they drain your account, before you stop, like you’re going to stop making impulse purchases, you’re going to free up literally hundreds of dollars if not thousands of dollars without actually cutting your joy. And you’re going to be able to redirect that money towards goals that you actually care about. So if you thought about working with me, but one of your fears is that I’m going to tell you that you can’t spend money, it’s not that we’re using pause, like we’re using this structure, we’re thinking about what is the ROI of your spending?
Let’s keep the things you actually want to be there and get rid of the things that you actually don’t. Because that’s where we’re going to find the money to build your five figure savings. That’s where we’re going to find the money to start your first thousand dollars savings account. So if you’re listening to me and you’re like, Keina, I don’t know if I could save $10,000. Girl, it starts with one. And right now you’re not at one. So we’re going to get you to that $1. We’re going to get past the $500 mark. I’ve had clients that have worked with me and they might already have savings, like $20,000 worth of savings, but it came from a windfall. So they don’t actually believe in their ability to add to that savings or to get past a certain mark. Like they almost have like a threshold in their life. And so with pause, with making sure that we understand the ROI of their spending, we’re able to go from $20,000 saved to $30,000 saved, to moving to, $35,000 saved, $40,000 saved. So they start to actually see themselves as a saver and it’s not like their savings just happened to them, that they intentionally built it.
And when you have the skill of being able to save $10,000 whenever you want, you have that skill for life, which lets you have a different mental conversation if you ever have to dip into your savings. A lot of people have a lot of thoughts about like oh my goodness, like I’m going to have to dip into my savings. Dipping into your savings isn’t a problem. When you know how to save it doesn’t matter. You can see that it’s going to automatically replenish and you’re going to know exactly what you need to do to get it there. And that’s the skill that we want to build through that five figure reinvention.
So full picture for you, the ROI spending audit shows you what you love, what you value, and what you regret. And the Pause method helps you make better decisions going forward. And that’s how we actually create this drama free spending that my clients have told you about. So now that you see how it works, I want you to put this into practice and think about, you know what, what am I doing? So here’s your homework. Do your own ROI spending audit, write down what you loved, write down what you didn’t like or what you didn’t use. Notice your patterns. Your patterns are going to be your patterns. And start practicing pause before your next purchase, especially during this holiday season. Because the sooner you learn to pause, the faster your five figure reinvention takes shape. And if this episode helped you see your spending differently, I would ask that you take like 10 seconds, hit follow, leave a quick review and help other women find this podcast and honestly, it just makes my day.
And if you’re doing the audit and thinking, I see the patterns and I didn’t know how to break them, that’s exactly where we work on or what we work on, excuse me, in coaching. So inside coaching, we build the habits, but we also build the systems that are actually going to help you move your goals forward and help you achieve drama free spending, predictable savings, and help you actually feel really clear about where your money is going. So go to the link in my bio or in the show notes I should say, or go to Wealth Over Now and you can apply to work with me. But thank you so much for tuning in and have a great week.
Outro: Thank you so much for listening to Money Files. If you’re ready to take the next step to reach your financial goals, head to www.wealthovernow.com/appointment and let’s get started.
