Real Life Money
Breakup Spending — When Heartbreak Becomes a Spending Trap
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About this episode
What it's about
A $9 candle. An emergency takeaway. Three weeks of "treat yourself" you can't actually afford. Emme and David unpack why heartbreak — and stress, and loneliness, and Friday nights — hits the wallet first. This episode reframes "doom spending" as a nervous system problem, not a discipline problem.
Hyperbolic discountingLipstick effectNervous system regulation
In this episode
What we cover
- Why emotional spending is biological, not moral
- Hyperbolic discounting — why $5 today beats $50,000 in retirement
- The "Lipstick Effect" and micro-luxuries as control mechanisms
- Why budgeting fails at the neurological level
- What to do instead: regulation before action
Where to start
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