How did you break your spending habit??

Norfolk_Jim

You could have a good look a frugal living and if it appeals to you - (some people will never be frugal, no matter what) - make being frugal into a hobby so that its actually more fun to NOT buy something or find an alternative or get it free, than to buy it.
Start by getting the Complete Tightwad Gazette from your library, just to see whats possible when you put your mind to it ( some of the ideas in there are a bit extreme but its the principle)

Changingme

Don't know how old your child is,have you tryed going to a mother and child group they are fairly cheap you get coffee,tea and biscuit the chance to talk to other mums while your child plays.The reason I suggest this as I was just the same when I gave up work to have my child or you could cook some muffins to enjoy.

Zazen999

Coffee: To stop myself buying coffees when working away [it is really easy to spend £10 in costs on a quick stop at a service station] I bought a silver insulated coffee mug and make one before I leave the house. My OH then wanted one so when we go on long haul trips we get one each before we go.

Cake: I went on a diet.

Shampoo: I lined up all the stuff in the bathroom that was unused, and it shocked me. It's because I get bored - I know it is. So, I use some of the old stuff until I get bored, then put it to the back and use a different one until I get bored - ad infinitum. I do feel good when I can recycle loads of plastic at once now.

Nails: how many different colours do you need?

The thing is to identify WHY you are doing it...why is it necessary to sit in a coffee shop and have a cake? Why not sit in the park and have home made coffee? Or tea? or water?

I now pride myself on keeping my money in my wallet.

Claw_back_money

Cookie_monster wrote: »

There must be people on this board who have broken their habit for unnecessary spending....how did you do it? Do you still have the impulse to buy things because you feel like it?

I'm a sahm and while my OH is at work I find it really hard to be good and not spend money on stuff I don't need..... a coffee in a coffee shop, a walk to the supermarket always ends up in me finding things I "need". I take my dd to the park, library, local farm etc so I know the free days out I can have but I always feel like I want a treat...usually food/coffee/cake etc or I treat myself to a new shampoo or nail polish. Nothing big but it all adds up. I'd love to learn from you...how did you do it?

Your question has really made me think!

Yes, I have broken the habit! :T

First off, The Demotivator :money: which allows you to see some scary facts about your spending pattern - for me it was taking lunches to work when I had to go to a particular office. A bit of the 'because you're worth it' mentality I think, and as I ddn't like working there. Realising how much it cost really helped me to stop!

Then - spending a lot of time on the freebies and comps boards, and realising that I was just as happy - in fact sometimes more so - with a free perfume sample as something that I'd bought. Which made me spend more time looking for freebies, applying for comps.

Then - applying this mantra (from someone here). "Use it up, wear it out, make it do, or do without!" I stopped wanting to buy things if I could find a creative way to manage without it! My energy went into thinking/researching rather than buying.

I do have money in my purse (cash only) for 'treats', but to be honest I don't really use it. I get books from the library, don't buy mags etc.

If you like things from Boots, the grabbit board will help hugely with being able to fund the things you need via points and glitches. For example, if you buy your phone credit in Boots, it will quite often give you a free voucher that is £5 off something or other, which will enable you to get nail varnish / posh shampoo or hair treatment etc. (A word of warning - some people have ended up with dozens and dozens of bottles of something as it is very cheap - but that might not be moneysaving!)

I think the No Spend Days are a good thing also, as if you focus on trying to not spend any money whatsoever on particular days, it makes you feel really successful and I get a warm happy glow from not spending money - like I used to from treating myself!!

Some things I noticed that I felt bereft about - there was a craft magazine I bought but did not use. The first 2 months I did not buy it I felt sad, but now I can see it on the shelf in the shop and not want it. A bit like an addiction maybe?

Hope this helps
Cbm

lilian1977

Sign up to Spendingdiary.com, and make sure you use the categories properly. Then you can run a report at the end of the month and see how much you've spent on "Eating out", "Takeways", "Clothes" etc. It's quite frightening.

pebblespop

i broke the habit by needing to save up for my wedding. i get more pleasure from seeing the money pile up in my account than buying 'stuff'. i look at the clothes I already own before buying new ones - i used to just go out and buy anything which took my fancy, and never wear the 'old' clothes again.

i also put my credit card in the freezer in december and have never touched it since - i used to use it constantly. now if i haven't got the cash i can't buy something.

i have amazed myself and hope i continue in the same way after the wedding!

Zazen999

lilian1977 wrote: »

Sign up to Spendingdiary.com, and make sure you use the categories properly. Then you can run a report at the end of the month and see how much you've spent on "Eating out", "Takeways", "Clothes" etc. It's quite frightening.

That's quite interesting....on our Egg card [which we pretty much put all our spending as we get cash back] it lists all the monthly spend in categories and once we started looking at this we were quite stunned just how much was going on each.

GrammarGirl

My spending habits included chocolate bars, nail varnishes and magazines. I now keep a spending diary and document everything I buy, but I still find it impossible not to have the occassional treat - occassional being the operative word here! I buy maybe 1 magazine a month (as apposed to 2/3 a week) and try to make it last. I'm an obsessive reader so I've joined the local library and now read tons of books for FREE! Instead of getting my weekly magazine fix.

As for the nail varnishes... well, there's one habit I just can't kick! I buy maybe 1 a month, sometimes less. They cost me about £4 a go and I have hundreds. But in the scheme of things, £4 a month isn't too bad for me. I was spending upwards of £100 on clothes each month, and I've kicked that completely.

Don't push yourself too hard. A life void of treats isn't gonna be any fun and you'll be miserable. Try to change those weekly treats to monthly or bi-monthly treats, so you're still getting them, just less often!

IsoChick

Definitely agree with those posts above!

Work out what you normally spend on, and how much, then write it down. It's pretty shocking!!

I stopped buying lunch at work, as did my OH, as we were spending £50 + a week on lunch. Most of the time it still equated to a sandwich, crisps and a drink!!

I make sandwiches/soup for us now, and buy in multipack crisps and choc bars etc. However, neither have us have completely stopped buying lunch - I go out for lunch with a friend at work every other Friday - it costs me about £5, but is nice to have something different!

We also treat ourselves to a takeaway now and then - it used to be every Friday night though! I've learnt how to make curries, southern fried chicken, and pizza from scratch, so we can still eat 'naughty' food, but without the prices.

The nicest thing this month was seeing that we hadn't used up all our overdraft (as we've been doing every month for ages).

Don't completely stop all your treats - cos you'll be miserable - work out a way to have them monthly or on special occasions and they'll feel more like a treat.

flugella

Thanks for the Spending Diary link - I will use that now!

I've really cut back on things like magazines at work - in an office of girls we're all a sucker for gossip mags but we were all buying them, never had the time to read them then they sat there for ages. So now I let the others buy them and dip into them if I want to.

My other big weakness is CDs - I have loads, but now only treat myself if I've done some overtime and can justify a CD. The rest of the time I re-acquaint myself with the ones I haven't listened to for ages - it's amazing what you have and don't realise it!

Books-wise, if you're a bookworm try "freecycling" your books on www.readitswapit.co.uk. Put up a list of what you have that you don't want, plus a wishlist and see if anyone will do a swap - a lot cheaper than buying the latest bestseller!

Rach x