how to stop spending?

Skint_Catt

It's the storage of things that has finally gotten on my nerves & stopped me (well kind of) though we're moving into a bigger house soon... :eek:
Books - I've sold a few & now only do book swaps (Read It Swap It) so I don't gain any more (my Kindle birthday present also helps with that ) & only costs postage.
DVD's - I rent unlimited amounts monthly for £10 - only buy if I REALLY love it. Have many more to sell on to reduce shelf space again.
Clothes - I hate clothes shopping though have much to sort & throw from my skinny days that I've finally realised I won't get back into...

I used to like to challenge myself to how many 'no-spend' days I could have in a row though with more to pay for these days I'm not sure how easy it's going to be!

C xx

ali-t

fantastic advice in this thread. I think I need to print this off and stick it to the fridge as a constant reminder!

So many of the 'this is what I used to do' are where I still am which is a bit depressing. I have boxed up 7 25kg boxes of clothes I don't wear, many of them still with the tags on and am determined not to buy any more clothes until I wear these ones and lose weight to fit in them.

grumpybear_3

Personally I completely agree with everyone who has said that its about understanding the difference between wants and needs, then working out how to meet those needs cheaper!

A while back I had a bit of a wake up call and decided to look at all of my outgoings and work out the difference between the things I thought I wanted / really wanted and actually needed.

Over time I'd accumulated a lot of expenses that were doing me no favours so sat down and looked at all the things I bought and all the things I used and tried to work out the difference and it was really amazing in that there were whole catergories of things I was spending money on but actually not really enjoying, that i could cut away and hardly miss

Cable TV
GYM subscription
Rugby Season Ticket
Monthly Theatre Trip
Books
DVDs
Magazine Subs

All of these went and I never missed them!

Once I'd done this I thought about the things I spent money on that I thought i needed or would spend money on without thinking

Phone
Internet
Mobile
Motorbike
False Economies - eg having a cupboards full of supplies, but never using them
etc

Working through that list I then came up with ways of making these things cheaper - I cancelled my home phone, downgraded my mobile, cancelled my broadband and got a dongle and spent less money on non essentials for my bike. I didn't cut everything though, just downgraded or used it up!

Rather than feeling deprived I made sure that I kept the most important to me, which was spending time with my friends and going out to concerts and actually had more money and time to devote to things I actually did enjoy, found new things to keep me entertained and felt a lot better about dropping hobbies and things that I wasn't actually interested in.

Admittedly, this is just for me as an arty farty single bloke, but chances are there are some common themes for your family too; food you buy and never use, kids activities that they don't actually enjoy, clothes you never wear etc all of which you can get rid / downgrade without worrying about too much and concentrate on the more important things!

uolypool

polesalot wrote: »

OMG!!! How big is your cupboard??? :rotfl:

Very big, its a huge walk in cupboard on the landing , you can fit a double bed in it just .

YORKSHIRELASS

ali-t wrote: »

fantastic advice in this thread. I think I need to print this off and stick it to the fridge as a constant reminder!

So many of the 'this is what I used to do' are where I still am which is a bit depressing.

You know we all had to start somewhere! I think its a bit misleading sometimes when people talk about their "lightbulb moment" as if they woke up one morning and instantly changed their habits for good. For some people it might work like that but for me it was a long slow process with lots of slip ups along the way. Its probably taken me about 2 years to get to the point where I truly have control of my money and can be honest with myself about what I can afford. I now understand how destructive those spending urges can be and how filling your life with material things really does not make you happy.

Good luck, believe me if I can change my ways, anyone can.

ali-t

YORKSHIRELASS wrote: »

You know we all had to start somewhere! .

I have been here 4.5 years You'd think I would have learned something!

MaggieBaking

ali-t wrote: »

I have been here 4.5 years You'd think I would have learned something!

We all have bad habits that take a long time to break - I'm sure it'll have been an improvement in the last 4 years from reading this and you'll be doing better.

Not spending is a conscious thought - think of it as being on a diet. It's good for you, but you need to plan and you need to be mentally strong and keep going. Give it a go - what's the worst that can happen?

I've got a long way to go yet - one thing I haven't mastered is learning to spend only what I choose. I have brought spends right down but I still don't say for example "I will only have a budget of x" because I always break them. Instead, I am more conscious of what I buy, of what I need, I will wait which I never used to.

One of my biggest tips that I have picked up is "If it is a bargain now, there will be a bargain later". Just because something is on offer doesn't mean you should buy it because it's "cheap". There'll be another offer on it a few months.

I'm a keen bargain hunter - or I used to be. I used to spend a lot on things on "offer" till I realised half of the things I bought I never used, sometimes I'd buy 2 big things on offer - say 2 for £2 - saving 50p. Actually, if I still only use one and waste the other - all I've done is spend an extra 75p not saved anything at all!!

Sometimes "bargains" aren't really cheap, and compared to the Value range they're still expensive. Learning about the compulsions I have when shopping for a "good offer" really did help to reign in my supermarket & clothes spending.

I used to buy lots of things for the home thinking they were so cheap that I may as well keep it and use it one day, like bedding and things. Ultimately all I was doing was spending needlessly. I will now decide what I "need" before being told if I need it! And when I do I will put it on my mental list and keep an eye out for a while to get prices, (but don't buy anything straight away even if it appears cheap). Then I get a good idea of what a bargain is and then I work hard at getting good value - going through Quidco, finding online vouchers, or just deciding that something at full price is good quality and worth my time...

I've discovered that Sales shopping really brings out my bad habits and now I avoid them all together - there's a lot of cheap tat out for sale that does me no good in the long run.

In a way, buying expensive things really has curbed my spending! :rotfl:

PollyFlinders_3

We had the jolting shock of a sudden, unexpected "redundancy" of my OH, who was the only wage-earner, with just a month's pay as he had less than a year's service.

In that instance we did stop spending altogether. We worked out the essential bills - mortgage, utilities etc, cancelled everything else, did a stockcheck of the cupboards and freezer and literally bought nothing until we couldn't physically produce any more meals. Then we only bought the food we needed.

We bought no new clothes for a year - with the single exception of school uniform for DD who was starting a new school, and school shoes.

After the first month or so we did relax a little once we knew what benefits we would get and how long our meagre savings might last, so we picked a couple of small things that we had really, really missed (newspaper on a Saturday, crisps and sweets for the children) and added them back into the weekly shop, but nothing of any significant cost.

Now we are both working so money is much less of a worry, but we are determined to only spend when we can find a reason to spend - something we absolutely need, and have nothing that would substitute - before we will part with our money. Has worked for us - just hope we can keep it up for the long term.

YORKSHIRELASS

MaggieBaking, you sound so much like me. One of the hardest lessons I had to learn is every penny counts. A top in the sale reduced from £30 to £5 is not a sensible purchase if you dont have £5 spare.

I have just sold loads of clothes on ebay that I bought in the sales - just because they were cheap. The Next Sale was like a drug to me.

I have finally realised its better to buy a jumper for £30 that fits well, is good quality and goes with lots of other clothes than three £10 jumpers that are just impulse buys. Even better if the £30 jumper is budgeted for and carefully considered before buying. But boy has it taken me a long time to realise this!

Bitsy_Beans

uolypool wrote: »

Very big, its a huge walk in cupboard on the landing , you can fit a double bed in it just .

That's not a cupboard that's a bedroom :rotfl::rotfl: