Investigating the impact of an online course on buying and saving behaviour

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Australia is the thirteenth largest contributor of household waste per capita in the world (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, 2022), spending over $10.5 billion annually on goods and services that are never or rarely used (Australia Institute, 2005). This wasteful behaviour contributes to costly landfills, environmental degradation, and rising household debt. Given society’s overconsumption, a handful of commercial programs currently exist to help people strive for minimalism and to declutter their homes. To the best of our knowledge, none of these commercial programs have been scientifically evaluated to see if they actually work, although many testimonials regarding their effectiveness can be found on the Internet. Thus, there is a clear need to develop an evidence base for such interventions. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of a new online educational course that was developed to help people buy and save fewer possession in order to save money, reduce clutter, and safeguard the planet. This new course, Breaking up with Belongings, is based on scientific research regarding object attachment, possession ownership, and behaviour change. The course is self-paced and comprised of 6 hours of content (videos plus workbook activities). Eligible participants will be randomly assigned to receive this program immediately or after a three month delay. We ask that participants complete the course within 7 weeks of receiving it, so that they can spend the rest of their time working toward reaching the goal(s) they set during the course. Participants are assessed at baseline and three months later. We expect that those who recieve the Breaking up with Belongings course immediately will report greater improvements than those who receive access to it after a three month delay.

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