Mmm - not good - can't stop spending!!

LillythePink

Got some money and vouchers for my birthday a few weeks ago and went into town last Saturday to spend them.....walked around and didn't find anything I wanted or at a price I was willing to pay!

So, came home and then spent £93 on ebay!

Bought two dresses
One pair of shoes
Two bra/knickers sets
Suspender belt
Fishnet stockings x2

Not a bad haul really but...

during the week I also ordered a bag from ebay for me and two bras...

Went into town this morning with dd to buy her two pairs of jeans as she has shot up and hers now aren't long enough and ended up buying

three pairs of shoes (2 dd 1 me)
pair of trainers (dd)
two pairs of jeans (dd)
2 Tops (me)
4 t shirts (dd)
2 vests (me)
1 cardigan (dd)
PJ's (dd)

2 dvds (us)


I am in a "want to spend" frame of mind and it's got to stop.

Don't get me wrong, although I have a loan to pay (laser eye surgery last year), the only other debt is our mortgage - we pay cc off each month, pay bills and save a tidy sum each month so are not watching the pennies but.......there's only so many times I can say to OH that I was spending my birthday money lol

Apart from not going into town or not going on ebay what other tips do you have?

Oh and I don't have a cc (which is good) so I can't leave that at home

BitterAndTwisted

Balance the grasping "I WANT!" against the modest "I need". Other than that there's no helping you.

building_with_lego

Save up your spending money? I tuck a little bit away every week or so, then[STRIKE] if [/STRIKE]when I find something I simply must have I can buy it without guilt! If I have (let's say) £103.23 in my current acc I'll move £3.23 to savings. I do this every few days.
Sometimes I'm enjoying the saving so much I dump £100 into my proper savings acc, but as I save there anyway that's a bonus.

LillythePink

BitterAndTwisted wrote: »

Balance the grasping "I WANT!" against the modest "I need". Other than that there's no helping you.

Yeh, but I want is just so more exciting isn't it!! :p


I must admit - it's one of the reasons why I don't go into town at a lunchtime and I don't tend to go there either at weekends because I just know that I will want to spend.

Some of the items I did need as my wardrobe needed a bit of updating - on the whole I am pretty good and don't spend from one month to the next but I just go through a binge and spend period

moneypuddle

Keep busy doing other things. I avoid town completely because I also love to spend and find it difficult to not buy something I see and like. So avoid temptation completely. Do free things - go for a walk, take your kids to the park.

Avoid ebay. Don't allow yourself to get bored enough to start browsing. Having said that I am waiting for a handbag to finish in 2 hours Epic fail.

Stephb1986_2

I am a shopaholic you need to stop this before you get like me, I think nothing of spending a few hundred quid on a radley bag the reason because I deserve it, I can easily spend 1000 in a week on stuff because I want it, my bedroom is full of my purchases but I had to have them

Steph xx

BitterAndTwisted

If you have bought items you really need, and I'd question whether any woman actually needs to buy two pairs of shoes in one week unless she was running around totally barefoot, I would operate a "one new in and an old one out" policy, so get the things you have replaced up on ebay and earn yourself a couple of quid. Your ebay selling could become your new shopping-addiction-fund.

Of course, I don't need to remind you of the folly of not being utterly candid with your husband about how much you've spent, on what and where the cash came from. That's a disincentive to wayward spending if there was one.

alex21

building_with_lego wrote: »

Save up your spending money? I tuck a little bit away every week or so, then[STRIKE] if [/STRIKE]when I find something I simply must have I can buy it without guilt! If I have (let's say) £103.23 in my current acc I'll move £3.23 to savings. I do this every few days.
Sometimes I'm enjoying the saving so much I dump £100 into my proper savings acc, but as I save there anyway that's a bonus.

I do this as well and it mounts up really quickly. I need a new ipod and protection for it and I have enough for that and to buy same for DS for xmas without touching my real money. This is just from a few quid here and there over a couple of months plus I save 50ps and £2 coins. It is addictive but I only buy proper wants with it ie no dipping in for groceries etc!

Taadaa

I used to spend like it was going out of fashion. TBH I think I was trying to compensate for not being completely happy. I used to put 300 quid on my credit card 'buying' clothes and not bat an eyelid. Perhaps there is a need to 'fill a hole' somewhere, and the high you get from buying 'stuff' fills it.

I like to buy clothes (when I'm not pregnant!!) but now I always go to a charity shop, eBay or think about making it myself. Even things for the house these days are second hand or tarted up or made myself. It makes me feel more satisfied and gives me more of a sense of achievement than going out and buying new. And I feel more security from having savings in the bank than having the latest must have hand bag in my wardrobe.

I think if your spending gets out of control it never makes you feel as good as you think because the guilt is there in the back of your mind. Before I buy something I ask myself if I can live with putting it on eBay in x years' time and getting a fraction of the cost now, or giving it away on Freecycle. It definitely works!

Bluemeanie_2

I spend loads on clothes but it is because I love fashion and looking good. Shopping (in shops though, not keen on online) is one of my favourite pastimes.

I don't go into debt though. I save every month, overpay my mortgage loads etc. I get paid monthly at the end, pay all my bills on the 1st and then allocate myself weekly pocket money. Once it has gone it's gone.

Sambucus_Nigra

Stephb1986 wrote: »

I think nothing of spending a few hundred quid on a radley bag the reason because I deserve it,

Wow - that's one of the saddest things I've ever read on here.