Canadians Good At Self-control As Long As Cuts Dont Hurt

By Misty Harris, Canwest News Service
Whether youre hoping to trim the fat from your budget or your backside, a new study finds many Canadians will fail before they begin.
The research, which has implications for everything from financial planning to New Years resolutions, examines why some people find it more challenging than others to regulate their behaviour. It turns out many fail not for lack of willpower but because of an inability to decide what they can and flavored massage oils cant live without be it hair highlights, satellite TV or daily triple-shot lattes.
This bears out in a new Statistics Canada report that shows that even in the face of our retreating dollar, record plunges in the stock market and professional massage chair what might be a lengthy recession, consumer spending remains one of the strongest economic sectors.
People may be absolutely accurate in saying, I stick to my budget, I stick to my diet, says study co-author Cait Poynor, an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Pittsburgh. The problem comes in the way theyre categorizing things as necessities or luxuries.
The 400-person study, which will appear in the February 2009 issue of the Journal of Consumer Research, finds distinct differences in goal outcomes between those who seek short-term versus long-term gratification.
Co-authors Poynor and massage therapy pregnancy Texas A -M Universitys Kelly L. Haws discovered people with low self-control like the idea of setting goals provided they dont have to suffer the immediate pain of giving things up. These folks compromise by making longer lists of necessities that make their game-plans easier to follow but are also less likely to yield results.
If you create a budget that allows you a $4.50 latte every day you feel like its a necessity and you have to have it youre sticking to your budget but youre not really getting anywhere, explains Poynor.
Tracy Pound, a stay-at-home-mom from Carstairs, Alta., says she tries to be diligent about managing expenditures. But when she recently put herself on an informal budget, there were things she simply couldnt sacrifice chief among them, the professional hair appointments she has scheduled every five weeks for the next year.Its a stupid self-esteem thing, says Pound, laughing. I can have bad clothes and no makeup, but my God, if I have bad hair, then shoot me.
The idea of essential indulgences has particular resonance during a time at which an uncertain economic future has many Canadians taking inventory of their standard of living. According to the director of the University of Albertas Western Centre for Economic Research individuals need to prepare for the worst without contributing to a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Maintaining what could be called non-essential expenditures could pose a risk to people if theyre in a situation where their job or level of income is at risk, says Helmut Mach. On the other hand, if everyone stopped going to Starbucks or getting their hair done professionally, that would have a compounding effect in terms of reducing economic activity.
Best suited to belt-tightening are those people with high self-control, who were found by the Journal of Consumer Research study to set smaller goals and create shorter lists of essentials. This makes them likelier to succeed at restriction-based ambitions such as losing weight or saving money.
Where they falter is with goals that conflict with their disciplined nature or threaten their long-term financial health, such as resolving to travel more or to be pampered.
Sharole Lawrence of Calgary puts herself firmly in that category, explaining that she finds it hard to permit herself extravagances in the face of more pressing financial priorities.
Indulgence is great in the moment but it is temporary and seems to disappear quickly, says Lawrence. The effects of a relaxing massage, for example, can be erased with one stressful phone call or e-mail, and a great vacation can be a distant memory.
(Photo: Sharole Lawrence holds up a piggy bank and some change. Sharole is one of the good budgeters, very good at maintaining restrictive goals. Dean Bicknell/Canwest News Service)