How To Stop Spending?

Hermia

moohound wrote: »

Find something else to do entirely, I stopped shopping when I stopped looking.

And don't just stop going to the shops, but also unsubscribe from company emails etc. I love toiletries/cosmetics and a couple of years back I knew the name of every 'must have' product and knew which beauty companies had new collections out etc. I unsubbed from every email and stopped watching the 'beauty gurus' on youTube. Now I could not tell you what the must have products are and so I don't even think about what I am 'missing'.

You also need to get your hubby on board. It's no good him moaning about your spending if he is then going to give in and buy stuff when you haven't got your card. You need to agree to tackle this with his help.

moohound

Hermia wrote: »

must have products

I used to fall for this, now I laugh with scorn at beauty and fashion 'must haves'

Must have says who?, usually a 21 year old media graduate on not much more than minimum wage, writing in a poorly edited magazine, full of adverts for more overpriced c**p that no one on earth actually needs.

I am full of venom today, must be the medication…...

PlymouthMaid

Being an 'anti-materialist' can actually be very satisfying and you can sneer at adverts with incredulity when they tell you about the latest must haves and think 'really?' I kind of enjoy not spending now even tho' it is really because I am broke.

bargainbetty

To stop the boredom with food, allow yourself one night a week when you can get a takeaway (budget the amount, obviously). Allow yourself a set amount of spending money per week, and blow it exactly however you please. The rest of the time, if you get the urge to buy things, tell yourself that you'll just try the stuff at home first, and if you don't like it you can get something else. I did that last night and avoided a kebab. I really wanted that kebab

Going cold turkey on spending doesn't work for everyone. It obviously doesn't for you. Allow yourself a few small things and the big stuff becomes less desperate.

However, you do also need to take responsibility for yourself. If you need toilet paper, go in, buy the paper, and walk out again. Just challenge yourself to do it once. Go straight to the right aisle, pick it up, and go to the till. When you do it once, you'll realise that you can do it every time. If you only take enough cash to get what you went in for, it becomes a lot easier.

And your husband can stop enabling you by paying when you don't have your money!

Jagraf

How about realising that everything you spend is just to make someone else money?

Tis isn't a dig at anyone personally, but its so silly to go through life lining other people's pockets. I buy from charity shops, I try to buy second hand or slightly damaged everything (except for teenage daughter who is definitely in silly stage).

If you were the only person on this planet, would you want a fast car / posh boots / flashy handbag etc. if not, then expensive stuff and stuff in general is about ego - and what others think of you.

X

Jagraf

PlymouthMaid wrote: »

Being an 'anti-materialist' can actually be very satisfying and you can sneer at adverts with incredulity when they tell you about the latest must haves and think 'really?' I kind of enjoy not spending now even tho' it is really because I am broke.

I absolutely get this. The penny dropped a while ago and now I can see it all for what it really is. And they adverts are just daft rubbish.

moohound

Jagraf wrote: »

I absolutely get this. The penny dropped a while ago and now I can see it all for what it really is. And they adverts are just daft rubbish.

Often cleverly and cynically marketed daft rubbish that pushes peoples buttons.

FireWyrm

moohound wrote: »

Often cleverly and cynically marketed daft rubbish that pushes peoples buttons.

One of the Grandfathers of the advertising world once said that "the art of marketing was to get people to buy something that they didnt know they needed before seeing your advert". This is the bottom line. We are being trained to purchase things we didnt want or need with money we dont have. It is all about extracting as much money from the consumer as possible and nothing to do with actually selling a commodity that is needed.

In years gone by, you sold a sack of potatoes, now you sell the idea that your potatoes are the best potatoes ever harvested and better yet, you have innovated the potato into a crisp. Think about it, you pay 40p for 25g of potato...given that an average baking potato weighs approximately 400g, that means that each potato you purchase in the form of crisps actually costs £6.40. That is downright absurd and no one in their right mind should fall for it.

moohound

FireWyrm wrote: »

One of the Grandfathers of the advertising world once said that "the art of marketing was to get people to buy something that they didnt know they needed before seeing your advert". This is the bottom line. We are being trained to purchase things we didnt want or need with money we dont have. It is all about extracting as much money from the consumer as possible and nothing to do with actually selling a commodity that is needed.

In years gone by, you sold a sack of potatoes, now you sell the idea that your potatoes are the best potatoes ever harvested and better yet, you have innovated the potato into a crisp. Think about it, you pay 40p for 25g of potato...given that an average baking potato weighs approximately 400g, that means that each potato you purchase in the form of crisps actually costs £6.40. That is downright absurd and no one in their right mind should fall for it.

Don't you wish you had thought of it though?

Jagraf

FireWyrm wrote: »

One of the Grandfathers of the advertising world once said that "the art of marketing was to get people to buy something that they didnt know they needed before seeing your advert". This is the bottom line. We are being trained to purchase things we didnt want or need with money we dont have. It is all about extracting as much money from the consumer as possible and nothing to do with actually selling a commodity that is needed.

In years gone by, you sold a sack of potatoes, now you sell the idea that your potatoes are the best potatoes ever harvested and better yet, you have innovated the potato into a crisp. Think about it, you pay 40p for 25g of potato...given that an average baking potato weighs approximately 400g, that means that each potato you purchase in the form of crisps actually costs £6.40. That is downright absurd and no one in their right mind should fall for it.

Omg that half price multipack isn't a bargain at all! I've never thought about it like that, there's approximately one eighth of a potato in a packet of crisps :eek: no hold on, a sixteenth!