Evgeny Morozov is a technology writer with a system to keep himself for wasting time on the internet: he locks his phone and his router cable in a safe with a timed lock. And that’s not all: “To circumvent my safe I have to open a panel with a screwdriver, so I have to hide all my screwdrivers in the safe as well. So I would have to leave home to buy a screwdriver – the time and cost of doing this is what stops me.”

That sounds extreme.

“It’s not that I can’t say ‘no’ to myself. I just waste too much energy having the internal conversation. I’d rather delegate the control to my safe and use my remaining willpower to get something done. I find it a very effective system.”

But that sounds extremely smart. DELEGATE CONTROL. Like uh, give your credit cards to a trusted friend. Bring only the amount of cash you’re allowed to spend. Automate payments and savings. It’s not weakness. It’s effective.

Lauren Rodrigue and I gchat sometimes during the day. We gchat a lot about having no money. We gchat about wanting things, but being unable to buy those things, because of no money.

I reread all of our chats from the past six months to see if I could find any growth. Are we getting smarter? Are we getting less whiny? Are we messing up less? I found that we have not yet progressed to talking about Excel spreadsheets and tax law (NEVER), but I think we’re moving in that general direction. Kind of.

‪Lauren:‬ Have you looked at Ruche.com

‪Logan:‬ I don’t do that. I don’t do online shopping.

‪Lauren:‬ Oh sorry. Oh my god. I am so sorry. For ever even suggesting.

‪Logan:‬: It just doesn’t work for my lifestyle. I am an emotional shopper. If I want to buy a new dress, I want it NOW, not in 5 to 7 business days.

Lauren: I don’t usually buy things online, I just look at shopping sites like how some people read magazines. Well I also read magazines. But I like to browse stores’ websites and think about the clothes and how I’d wear them. I usually get inspired to go change my outfit or to go find something new to buy anything anything anything I can possibly exchange money for. To me online shopping is like a thought exercise for actual shopping.

‪Logan:‬ I don’t do that. I just take myself out to dinner every time I feel sad.