how to stop spending?

ljagnew_2

I am finding it hard to stop spending money! How did you all get started? Any tips?

Cyril

1. Think about if its a need or a want.

2. Don't buy anything bar essentials straight away. If you don't buy it after 24hrs you don't really want it.

3. Give yourself an allowance and stick to it.

4. If you have a real issue leave your purse and cards at home and only carry a bus fare etc.

5. Tried and tested spending diary. When you see how all those coffees add up you may shock yourself.

Just a few.

Farway

Leave all cards at home & just use real cash in your pocket / wallet

When it is gone it is gone

missychrissy

I find that the best way to stop spending is simply not to go shopping.

I now only supermarket shop about once a month. I buy skimmed milk in cartons in Aldi that last ages. I keep my bread in the freezer and only defrost a slice as and when needed so saves waste. Once I have used up fresh fruit and veg I use frozen and occasionally tinned or in a jar.

timefortea

I started a spending diary a couple of months ago. Talk about an eye-opener! I couldn't believe how much I was spending on clothes and sandwich meal deals at the local shop.

This sounds a bit weird, but I really enjoy the shopping part, not necessarily all of the expensive new stuff I'd buy. So instead of going to the high street and buying clothes I now spread out my grocery shopping. After work I'll pop by Lidl and buy some veg for tea. It works for me! I spend a lot less and I'm eating better.

I also took up exercise classes, so I have less time to think about spending money. I get a bit of a buzz from the exercise too, so afterwards when I'm feeling proud of myself I don't feel like I need new things to make me feel good.

Sassers

Hi there - try and `offset' stuff. After all of the above tips, if you really must have that CD, DVD, magazine, handbag whatever it is, then find ways of offsetting the cost. This could be having a carboot sale to raise some of the funds to pay for it new, doing online surveys to get cash and vouchers perhaps or even something as extreme as checking in nearby skips or down the local rubbish tip or charity shop.

I wanted white emulsion and a LLoyd loom chair for my front bedroom. Put it on my mental `Wishlist' and waited. Four months later someone chucked out a Lloyd Loom chair in my street, and a week later down the tip there was half a pot of paint. Cost nothing but time....

Hope this helps and isn't too patronising and good luck with it all - the only other thing I can suggest is ditch the purse, try and have as many no-spend days as possible and put an `allowance' in bank bags marked for each day of the week and take it from there....

The_Thrilla

There are several ways of cutting spending. Here is what I do. You may have read "The Richest Man in Babylon". Here, you pay yourself first - at least 10% of your income. But other people pay themselves more. In other words, you take a percentage of your money, put it into a savings account, or an index fund, or a life assurance policy or buy an ounce or two of silver - anything you like. The important thing is to pay yourself before anything or anyone else. You then have a smaller amount of money left to live off, and that will force you to find ways of not spending so much money. It will also, after a period of time, make you rich.

shop-to-drop

Think about how many hours you need to work to pay for it. Often puts me off making an impulse purchase. If you will need to pay interest to buy consider how long it will take to pay for and how much in total you will pay (may be a bit of calculating to do there though I guess!).

LittleJo

Hi,
I wrote down every penny I spent for a month.
What an eye-opener!
I then thought how much value I had got, and how much I had thrown away.
Jo

Rainy-Days

I know this is going to sound really odd - but I just grew out of it! I really did, I just didn't get the same buzz that I used to, that every single penny that I earned was accounted for and I worked out how many hours it would take for me to work to buy that item.

I also got busy, got a hobby and stayed out of the shops! Now I only go into town once per month I have a shopping list and I get what I need - thats it. Living in a village also helps because I need to use the car to get to the shops and then pay for parking.

Desperate_Housewife_2-2

read 'the tightwad gazette' by amy dacyzcn, it caused me to have a shift in mindset and I now have a frugal attitude to spending.

I second what a previous poster said about waiting before spending, I wanted a china cabinet for my dining room and got the one I wanted...after about 15 years! Extreme and not recommended for everyone...

Don't go shopping, record everything you spend, wait before buying anything, mend, borrow or do without, meal plan, bulk buy when cheap...