Your money habits
began in childhood
Why do some people spend freely when anxious while others hold so tight to cash they never enjoy it? The answers often trace back further than a paycheck. Hadudu Dapolu explores the psychology behind money behaviour, drawing on published behavioural research.
Informational only. Not therapy. Not financial advice.
Understanding the story money tells about you
Somewhere between watching your parents argue about a bill and the first time you earned your own money, a set of beliefs took shape. Those beliefs became reflexes. The reflexes became your financial life.
Hadudu Dapolu is a blog focused on that space. Not on budgets or investment strategies, but on the quieter, older question: what does your relationship with money actually feel like, and where did that feeling come from?
Every article here draws on published behavioural economics and psychological research. The goal is reflection, not prescription. We explore patterns researchers have identified, explain the mechanisms behind them in plain language, and leave the conclusions to you.
How We Work
How we approach each topic
Three consistent steps shape every piece published here. The sequence matters because the goal isn't to tell you what to do.
Identify a published research finding
Each article starts with peer-reviewed work in behavioural economics, developmental psychology, or attachment theory. We reference the source material so readers can follow the trail themselves. No invented claims. No borrowed authority.
Connect it to everyday experience
Academic findings become meaningful when they map onto recognisable moments. A Thursday afternoon retail therapy session. Feeling a physical tightness when a restaurant bill arrives. These are not character flaws. Researchers have documented the mechanisms behind them.
Offer a frame for reflection
We do not diagnose. We do not prescribe. The articles close with a frame that invites you to consider whether the pattern described feels familiar, and if so, what that recognition might mean for how you understand your own behaviour.
The patterns we explore
Scroll to see the territory this blog covers. Each theme reflects a documented area of research.
Stress Spending
Research in behavioural economics documents how emotional regulation and purchasing behaviour become linked. Some people reliably spend more when cortisol levels are elevated. The mechanism involves dopamine anticipation rather than the purchase itself.
ExploreHoarding Without Enjoying
Accumulating financial resources without experiencing any sense of security or pleasure from them is a pattern researchers associate with specific early scarcity experiences. The money grows but the anxiety doesn't shrink. This disconnect has a documented name and a studied origin.
ExploreFamily Money Scripts
Financial socialisation research shows that children absorb their family's money attitudes before they can articulate what money is. These scripts operate largely below conscious awareness in adulthood, shaping risk tolerance, generosity, and how much guilt a person feels when spending on themselves.
ExploreImpulse Triggers
Impulse purchases are not random. Research identifies specific antecedent conditions: boredom, social comparison, a particular time of day, certain retail environments. Understanding your personal trigger profile is a matter of observation, not willpower. The trigger comes before the thought.
ExploreMoney and Self-Worth
A significant strand of psychological research examines the conflation of net worth with self-worth. This conflation shows up in overspending to signal status, in shame that prevents people from discussing money at all, and in the peculiar guilt that can accompany financial success in families where money was scarce.
ExploreMoney is always personal
Who writes and edits here
Hadudu Dapolu is produced by a small team of writers and researchers with backgrounds in behavioural science, developmental psychology, and science communication.
Orla Mackinnon
Lead WriterOrla has a background in developmental psychology and spent several years in adult education before turning to long-form science writing. She focuses on translating academic findings into accessible, honest language without oversimplifying the research.
Dara Nwosu
Research EditorDara reviews all source material before publication, checking that articles accurately represent the underlying studies. He is particularly interested in the replication literature and what it means for the claims behavioural science makes about money.
Sorcha Elvira
Contributing WriterSorcha writes the more personal, narrative-led pieces on the site. Her approach starts from observed behaviour and works backward toward the research that might explain it. She trained in cognitive behavioural science before moving into journalism.
Femi Adeyemi
Editorial DirectorFemi sets the editorial direction and ensures the site stays within its stated scope: informational and reflective, never prescriptive. He has a background in science publishing and a long-standing interest in how people form beliefs about money and risk.
From the blog
Childhood Origins
When scarcity becomes a lens: how early financial instability shapes adult perception
Researchers studying scarcity and cognition have documented something counterintuitive: people who grew up in financially unstable households sometimes continue to process the world through a scarcity lens even decades after their circumstances changed. The brain, it seems, updates its threat models slowly.
Read moreThe five minutes before a purchase: what the research says happens in your brain
Impulse buying research consistently shows the decision is largely made before conscious deliberation begins. Understanding what precedes the urge is more useful than studying the purchase itself.
Read moreSilence about money is also a lesson: what children learn when families don't talk about finances
Financial socialisation research documents that the absence of money conversation teaches as effectively as direct instruction. Avoidance communicates that money is dangerous, shameful, or simply not something people like us discuss.
Read moreA note on what this is
Hadudu Dapolu publishes informational articles based on published behavioural research. Nothing on this site constitutes financial advice, psychological counselling, or therapeutic guidance. If you are experiencing financial difficulties, please consult a qualified financial advisor. If you are struggling with your mental health, please contact a qualified mental health professional.