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Bring Your Spending Under Control
By Molly's Brother | August 31, 2006
Although not a problem of mine, I understand that some people ascribe to the idea of “retail therapy.” Retail therapy? The term sends shivers up my spine because its precisely this form of “therapy” that gets us further and further into credit card debt. A person has a bad day, so he treats himself and buys himself something nice that he may not be able to afford. But a few days later, he feels worse about his financial situation. Feeling badly about his financial situation causes anxiety and a lower self image. And the only solution? Shopping. Retail therapy. (Let’s be honest, I had to pick a pronoun. But men and women both exercise this form of “therapy.”)
It’s a viscious cycle.
If you find that you are interested in curbing your spending to stop racking up the credit card debt, below are a few hints to help you along this path.
Replace an unhealthy habit with a healthier one. Avoid the malls. Avoid the stores. You might go shopping and drop hundreds of dollars. Replace that with an outing to Starbucks or the Coffee Bean and meet up with friends. Your hundred dollar habit has now become a ten dollar habit. (But please don’t pay for the coffee with a credit card. Otherwise that three dollar drink will turn into an $80 drink once you finally pay it off.)
Trick yourself. Develop little tricks that you might succumb to. Like, leave your credit cards at home. Or walk out of the house with only your driver’s license and a small amount of cash (you may need it for some emergency). Some people have even gone so far as to freeze their credit cards in a bowl in their freezer. (Forcing them to wait till it thaws to free their little piece of plastic.) You know your habits so only you know what “tricks” you can use to fool yourself.
Use the online shopping cart. More and more of us use the internet to go shopping. In order to avoid endless spending, do the virtual browse. Hit your favorite sites, but leave everything in the online shopping cart. Return to the site a few days or a week later. By then, you’ll have developed a better sense of whether you needed the item or just merely wanted it.
Disconnect entirely. If shopping online is such a problem, you may have to re-evaluate your relationship with your internet provider. If this is the case, perhaps it might be best if you disconnect your home compuer from the world wide web. (In addition to curbing your spending, you’ll also save money by having one less monthly bill to pay!)
If your spending issues are completely out of control, it might be best to click on over to Debtor’s Anonymous start down a path towards healthier spending and healthier living.
Topics: Debt |
August 31st, 2006 at 4:46 pm
The freeze your credit card idea is great! It gave me a great chuckle as well.
August 31st, 2006 at 5:45 pm
It made me laugh the first time I read it, too. I guess you do whatever works, right?
September 8th, 2006 at 2:31 pm
Hey, don’t laugh- I have my mastercard frozen into a cup of water in my freezer. It’s even better than just leaving it at home b/c I can’t just grab it on the way out the foor if I “need” to get something.