My Finance Blog

I have a friend who use to live the lavish life until one day, she found herself buried in massive debt due to numerous shopping sprees and trips to the spa. She started cutting costs since then, avoiding the use of her credit cards and just plain saving up without compromising the value of her purchases. However, since it’s the last days of November and we’re nearing the Holiday season, my friend forgot all about her goal to curb compulsive spending and just like a shopping zombie, spent an entire month’s budget in one day. In short, all her efforts went in vain.

Compulsive spending is very hard to control, believe me. I, myself, suffer from it. But I manage not to spend all my money in one go. Here’s how I do it:

1. I don’t keep big amounts with me.

I do have emergency money stashed away with my parents. However, generally, I only have *enough* cash with me to last for a few days. The downside is that I have to withdraw every so often. But I believe this is best for me because whenever I do have a large amount inside my house, my hands just itch to spend it all.

2. I don’t have a credit card.

The reason why I’m not in debt is because I don’t have a credit card. I have a debit card, because I do import online goods every now and then. But since the amount of money in my debit card is limited, I could only spend so much. I don’t end up in debt. Thank god for debit cards.

3. I don’t go straight to the mall from the bank.

Whenever I withdraw, I make it a point to go straight home. I don’t linger in places where I know there’s an unlimited avenue of spending.

How about you? How do you try to curb compulsive spending?

Filed under: personal finance