3 tips to outsmart the algorithms that want you to spend

When it comes to managing your money, it can often feel like the deck is stacked against you.

Creating an effective budget can be a challenge, especially when inflation keeps pushing the costs of everyday necessities higher. And as technology keeps advancing, targeted ads and other tactics used to get you to spend more are harder to avoid.

All of this can lead to unconscious spending. "We have the highest amount of credit card debt in history right now. And I think a lot of that is driven by the fact that people don't even realize what they're spending [money on]," says Jennifer Beeston, financial expert, mortgage originator and author of the upcoming book "Brainhacked: How Big Tech Trains Your Brain to Spend — And How to Fight Back."

Although spending money often feels easier than saving it, you can do more than helplessly rage against the machine. CNBC Select spoke with Beeston about how you can empower your finances by fighting back against the technology designed to entice you to spend more.

Practically everything you do online is tracked in one way or another. That information can be used to target you with ads when you're most likely to hit the buy button. "Every time you open up your phone... you have the world's greatest salesman pitching to you," Beeston says.

If you've been struggling with spending more than you'd like, here are three tips to help you reign in your budget and be more intentional with the purchases you make.

Cut the subscriptions

Subscription services are a big part of the unconscious spending trap. If you had to list every subscription you have and how much it costs without looking it up, how many could you remember?

An increasing number of services are moving to a subscription model. You can even buy a subscription for heated car seats in some countries. This is the future, with bits and pieces of what we once bought whole being resold to us monthly, Beeston says.

On top of that, the vast majority of free trials end by auto-enrolling you into a subscription plan. And you can't always unsubscribe with the click of a button.

Beeston recommends going through your credit card and bank statements to identify recurring charges. Write them all down and how much they cost, then ask yourself, do I need this? "Cancel everything you're not passionate about," she says.

If you want to fight fire with fire, you can also sign up for yet another subscription service — except this one helps you manage the accounts you've left in the wake of your free trials and sign-ups. Rocket Money (formerly Truebill) is an app that (among other things) can link to your bank account, analyze and identify your subscriptions, and then cancel them on your behalf.

Just keep in mind that these types of services may not find every subscription in your life. And while these services help you manage your subscriptions, they also follow the same model. That means you'll have to be comfortable with having at least one subscription to manage.

If you do end up keeping a few subscriptions, you can ensure you're getting the most bang for you buck by using the right rewards credit card to pay. For instance, if you just can't give up your Netflix or Hulu account, you should at least pay with a card that gives you bonus rewards on streaming purchases.

Make every click count

What you interact with online builds a profile of you that can be used to help companies market to you. "Every time you click you are telling the algorithm that they can make money if they show you that content," Beeston says. Each click, view or comment helps refine what you are shown online, so it's important to be mindful of your online activity.

Beeston suggests throwing a monkey wrench in the ad machine by purposefully interacting with content you're not interested in. Watch a few videos of something you normally wouldn't pay attention to, whether that's crocheting, hiking or stamp collecting. "With just a few clicks a week you can have ads tailored to what you don't love, which makes you less likely to buy and makes it harder for the algorithm to figure out what to sell you," Beeston says.

Go cold turkey

To understand how much you spend online, Beeston says you need to cut the habit for a month. Take 30 days and commit to buying nothing online.

Online shopping is easy and "is 100% designed to make you click away your money without a second thought," Beeston says. When you have to get up and go to the store to do your shopping, it adds a layer of friction between you and the purchase. If it takes longer to make a purchase, you have more time to identify things you don't need.

This approach takes some extra willpower on your part, but Beeston says it may be easier than you think and that your wallet will thank you.

As marketing technology advances, it becomes easier to fall into a pattern of unconscious spending. But there are ways to take things into your own hands and to focus on only making the purchases that matter to you.

Start by taking a look at your subscriptions and cut the ones you don't use anymore. Pay attention to what you click on and the accounts you follow on social media, all of this activity can be used to target you with highly tempting ads. And if you want to get a good idea of how much you're spending online, commit to not buying anything online for 30 days. When you have to put in extra effort to go shopping, you may find that you spend a lot less.