Lynda Moore has a fun imaginative holiday exercise, one that will tell a lot about how you feel about earning, spending, and holding money

You have survived Christmas Day and boxing day.  Now it’s those odd days in the middle while we wait for New Year.  They feel weird don’t they, what do you do with them? If you like the English comedian Michael McIntrye, he has a very funny story about the days between Christmas and New Year.

Anyway, I digress.  I thought to help you fill in the time, I would share a fun exercise with you.

Have you ever wondered what your true money mindset looks like, not the version you tell yourself you have, but the one quietly driving your decisions when no one’s watching?

Here’s a simple, imaginative exercise I use with clients. It’s fun, a little revealing, and shows a surprising amount about how you feel about earning, spending, and holding money.

The exercise

Pick any starting amount—it could be $1, $10, $50, $100—whatever feels right. Your challenge is to spend it all in a single day. Tomorrow, the amount doubles, and you spend it all again. The next day, it doubles again. And you keep going for as long as you can. Just a caveat here, you need to spend the money, not give it away. The day you give it away, is the end of the game for you.

The question is: at what point does your brain throw up its hands and say, “I can’t do this anymore—this feels impossible”? That moment is your personal stopping point, and it reveals your real money mindset. And here’s the kicker… it’s rarely about the money itself.

Why this works

Your money mindset isn’t about how much you earn. It’s about how safe, capable, and deserving you feel when money moves through your life. This exercise forces you to imagine receiving more money than you usually handle and doing something most people feel uncomfortable with: spending it freely and without restriction.

That discomfort often surfaces as thoughts like, “That’s too much money,” “I shouldn’t spend this much,” or “What if I run out?” The rules of the exercise make running out impossible, but your brain doesn’t care about rules. It’s tuned into safety, familiarity, and identity. That’s where the insights come in.

Where most people stop

Many people start small. maybe $10. Day one feels harmless. By day ten, that’s $5,120, and suddenly, the wheels come off. Thoughts like “I can’t justify this,” “This feels wasteful,” or “Who do I think I am?” start creeping in.

Notice a pattern? It’s not about the math. It’s about your money mindset. One of the most common money blocks I see is this: your comfort with spending reflects your comfort with receiving. If spending $5,000 in a day feels “wrong,” receiving $5,000 easily will feel “wrong” too—even if you say you want it.

What your stopping point reveals

Your stopping point tells you a lot about your money personality. It shows your upper limit—the invisible ceiling of what feels like “enough” or “too much.” It shows your safety threshold—what triggers fear when spending or receiving. It shows your money identity—if you’ve always seen yourself as someone who doesn’t need much, spending or receiving large sums can feel like pretending to be someone else. And it shows your comfort with expansion—how far your nervous system can stretch before overwhelm sets in.

Your stopping point is not a failure. It’s data. It’s an opportunity to see the stories you’re telling yourself—like “I don’t deserve this,” “This is too much for someone like me,” or “I shouldn’t want more.” These beliefs weren’t random. They were learned, inherited, or absorbed. And once you see them, you can start to change them.

How to work with your result

Start by noting the dollar amount where you hit “STOP.” Ask yourself why that number felt too big, and keep asking why until you uncover the belief underneath. Then imagine spending just one day past that point. You’re not trying to become a reckless spender, this is about expanding your capacity to receive, handle, and direct money. Pay attention to what comes up: guilt, anxiety, excitement, resistance. That is the real work of money psychology.

This exercise isn’t really about spending. It’s about uncovering the invisible limits you’ve placed on what feels “acceptable” for you financially. Your brain only allows in the amount of money it feels safe handling. If you want to grow your income, build wealth, or break old money patterns, your stopping point is the perfect place to begin.

The last time I did this exercise, I started with $100 a day, being a natural spender, I was having so much fun, buying cars, diamonds, holidays. Then as I had more every day, I started looking at private islands to buy, castles in the UK and Europe.  I think I even bought and F1 racing team.  It opened a whole new world that I had never even considered. By the time I got to day 16, when I had about $16.5 mill to spend, it was getting pretty hard.  I valiantly carried on to day 26 when I decided I just couldn’t do it anymore and donated all the money to charity.  That was the end of the game for me.

Have some fun with this, see what your upper limit is, I would love you to share in the comments how many days you were able to keep it going.

*Lynda Moore is a Money Mentalist coach and New Zealand’s only certified New Money Story® mentor. Lynda helps you understand why you do the things you do with your money, when we all know we should spend less than we earn. You can contact her here.