Hi everyone!

As some of you know, I'm new to frugality. I've been doing fine until lately. Now, all of a sudden, I want to purchase things. I bought some weights and a yoga mat, a magazine, rented 2 movies, went to the movies, went to McD's...all in one week. I feel like a failure now, especially since we were saving for our wedding bands, and I still need to get my engagement ring sized. Its a terrible feeling.

I wonder, how do you combat temptation?

I know that I shop when I'm bored. The last few days I've had off, plus DF was away doing a job. Do you have any advice as too how I can stop this impulse buying?

Thanks!

The best thing for me is to stay out of stores, off ebays, and away from sales! Along with that we keep a written monthly budget with goals for the month and long-term goals on it.

What works for me whenever I get the "shopping bug" is to sit down and go over my budget. This brings me back to reality. I also have my "list" of ways I can be frugal. It helps to go back over this list (I carry it in my wallet). Also too, come back to the FV forums and get recharged!! There's a lot of great advice on here. The urge to shop will disappear!!

Almost forgot to mention. . .don't beat yourself up about the shopping you just did. At least they weren't really expensive items. Learn from it and move on. Good luck!!

Ugh, I have that problem, too. My trouble is, I love to yard sale and thrift store shop!!! lol I could spend my whole paycheck on one Saturday morning. And :smooch: and I love to eat out. But we are both trying to cut back on that (at least together).

I know how you feel Rachel. I just got back from holidays and it seems I did nothing but spend frivolously.

Some things that work for me:

Stay home and find something to do that will make me feel accomplished
Go over the pile of unpaid bills sitting in the basket on the counter
Write down a list of the things that you are saving for. When the urge to spend comes, read over the list and see if what you want to buy today outweighs what you want to buy later.

Don't beat yourself up, we all do this. It is human nature and the society we live in. Just do your best to get "back on the wagon". If you splurge occasionally you are much less likely to give up on frugality all together.

I stay out of the stores, brick-and-mortar and online. Occasionally, the shopping bug will bite and I decide that I 'need' that makeup/perfume/whatever. I look it up online and add it to my shopping cart, take it all the way to the page where I have to input my credit card info, then that makes me stop, because I have to go get my credit card out of my purse. So I think to myself, I'm going to wait and see if I need this two days from now. Because really, it feels good buying it and getting that package from UPS, but once I have it, the feel-good feeling is gone by the next day and I have once again charged more money on my credit card and I just have this 'item'. I think about how buying that item is going to delay paying off all my CC debt and I only have 4 months to go and I am so very tired of this debt. By the time two days have passed, the urge to buy is gone, and I haven't added to my debt load.

Sit down and brainstorm ideas of what to do when you have downtime. thus when you are bored, look at your list of ideas as opposed to defaulting to go shopping as an activity.

I guess whenever I get an itch to go shopping, I just read these boards! I used to like to shop alot, but I made up my mind not to (it was actually a New Year's resolution many years ago!). It also works for me to know that I could if I wanted to, but I'm making a concious decision not to. It is a powerful feeling to know you have control over your finances.

If all that doesn't work, then I go to the thrift store & look throough everything there. By the time I'm done, I'm tired of shopping & I'm hardly out any money!

With me, the more $$ I see in my savings account - the more I want to see so that helps me with it. :)

Love,

Jennelle

What do I do? It looks like a lot of people here have similar tricks to my own. Don't go in stores if you can help it, don't go onto ebay or other shoping online stuff. I also start making lists of how much stuff I have that I *don't* need... knickknacks, a huge pot and pan set (instead of just the basics) more clothes than I can wear, necessitating me emptying out my closet every season to make room..... etc... The other thing I do is I ask myself "can I make it myself or use something else?" A yoga mat for example... can I use a folded up towel? Did yogi's use yoga mats? I used to make my weights out of bottles filled with water and the lid glued on, then tied onto a broom stick or doweling. As long as you're not becoming a body builder... hey.. it's free...

Sometimes ..... ya just spend it.

Don't beat yourself up. We live in a society that works harder, spends more money and research and is completely made up of ways to make you part with your money. does it surprise you that we're all fighting for frugality???

Good luck!
babs

ps: if you just think of mcdonalds as 'poison' (see supersize me, it helps)... it makes it much less attractive.

When I get bored and want to go shopping, I stay out of the stores. I try to get working on a project at home. If I just don't feel like work, I go to Yahoo Games and play a few games of Text Twist. I usually just need to keep busy.

The one thing I have learn to do over time is write it down instead of buying it, question it's purpose, the reason I think I need it and if in a week or two I still feel it's necessary then I buy it. Most of the time I find I have completely forgotten all about it and therefor it really wasn't that important to me after all.
Some other tricks is for you to sit down and figure out how many hours of work it will take for you to pay for your purchases. I put up with alot of stress at work and work hard for what I make so sometimes I think uggg I will have to work 3 hard stressful hours for what ever. For some it put some perspective on things.
Changing your spending habits/lifestyle isn't something that is easily done overnight for most, so like babysteps you make mistakes or regrets just learn from them.
Good luck

I'll look at the price of whatever is tempting me and figure out how much it would take off my mortgage and how much it would shorten the term of it, works every time for me! I didn't get this way overnight though, it's a long term project to get really frugal.

kj

I saw a saying on someones siggy on another website about 4 years ago now (can't remember the site) I wrote it down and carried it with me where ever I went and to this day it has stayed in my mind everytime I go out and about.

It read like this:

"Buying what I want now will often result later in needing what I can't buy."

We were living from Paycheck to Paycheck and I would think, what if the kids get sick and need medicine, what if something comes up and I need a few extra $ , like a flat tire, etc. Do I really need that new sweater or will the 4 I have be pleanty.

I saw somewhere on the internet (can't remember where either) a question about when were you at your lowest point financially or something to that effect and a lady answered how she was at her lowest the day she couldn't buy her childrens school pictures .... :(

Staying at home works best for me. But also looking at your purchase in the big picture. i.e. If you're tempted to buy a latte think how much it would cost if you bought just one latte once a week for a year! At $2 a cup for 52 weeks thats $104! That definately helps my spending habit!!

I do still occassionaly get a frozen coffee drink or milkshake or whatever but I make sure I really want it and I'm not just buying it b/c I THINK I want it. For me personally if I deprive myself all the time of my frozen coffee then I start hating the frugal lifestyle that we're living and want to spend more. So you have to give yourself a treat once in awhile but not all the time.

OK I started rambling and I'm not sure I made any sense! lol

Hi MrsB ... just wanted to say yes, that what you said makes absolute sense! :)

Love,

Jennelle

This will sound a little silly. But typically when I really want to go shopping, I wind up playing The Sims2. I can decorate their houses with all the best and cloth them in the best fashion and not have it reflect on my financials. :toothy: I feel so dorky now.

Any time that doesn't work, I wind up opening up Quicken or my Excel spreadsheet and see how going shopping would effect my debt free date and that usually stops me cold.

Hi Traci :)

I don't think it sounds silly at all.

I think whatever works for each of us is a smart idea!

Love,

Jennelle

I have a great way of acquiring items for absolutely free: check out www.Freecycle.org

It
is
the
best

Hey Traci if it keeps you from spending then it sure isn't DORKY! It's SMART!! We all have our own way of dealing with things and if it works then do it!!

kj

I go to the library. It makes me feel like I'm shopping, I get to come home with stuff, and half the time, I bring home so many books and movies, I don't even wind up reading or watching all of them.

I've learned that shopping seems to fill a need for something different. If I come home from the library with cookbooks with new recipes to try, or a book with some craft examples or something, that often does the trick. It's not so much that I need a thing to fill that desire for something new and different; pictures, words, and ideas do the trick just fine.

I LOVE Sims2 *sigh I don't have time to play much anymore though

Thanks everyone for your thoughts/advice!

Well, a new week starts today and I hope that I can not spend anymore money than is alotted for groceries and what not. But I have also (for another thread) added up how much money we saved this month. a HUGE $545!!! I was super excited when i saw that amount. I'm hoping to make it larger next month! I know already that we have to spend next month, as I have a few things I need to buy, ie. a bridesmaids dress for my best friends wedding in september, a marriage licence next week, wedding bands, and we still have to pay the officiant for the ceremony. Ugh, but I guess I just have to keep in mind that if I spend now, I can't have what i want later...

Keep on bring in those thoughts/suggestions!!

Ewokgirl, I was going to post the same thing you did. I also go to the library when the feeling to go shopping just won't go away. Or I drive to the ATM machine and print out my balances and think about how I want those numbers to be so much bigger.

:yoyo:

I LOVE playing Sims too!! My favorite is Sims:Busting Out. I love being able to "buy" and "play" with high priced stuff without actually spending money!

I just stay out of the stores as much as possible. Sometimes I fall off the wagon, but most of the time I do ok. Even if I have a genuine need I sometimes feel guilty..weird.

Procrastinate! Why spend today what can be put off until tomorrow - which, incidentally, is when I won't have time to shop because I am going to be so busy doing...

I am another one who visits the library and stocks up on books and magazines to keep me occupied.... I also like to visit frugal sites for inspiration and motivation, and I go over my budget, my goals and look at my growing balances... it all helps :)
:rollsmile

lol ditto MrsB...I use to download all kinds of different furniture, wallpaper, paint, accesories, etc from the internet; it was to the point that I just couldn't figure out how to add-on to the house anymore to hold or decorate with all the things I had.
Rachel that is a great savings; way to go, remember just keep moving ahead and as long as you at least taking 2 steps forward with an occasional one step back you're going to do great. As well as we all faulter, whether we like to admit it or not, no one in life can go entirely without splurging some, just pace it a little

Stay out of the stores and put your credit cards away. If you can't be strong enough to put them away then cut your credit cards up!

When I finally do save some money, lock it up so you aren't tempted to spend it.

I had some free time away from the kids, so instead of going shopping, I sat at the library and browsed magazines, curled up in a chair and read a book.
What I really needed was to be away from the kids - and sometimes I use shopping as an excuse to leave them with hubby.

I go to the library. It makes me feel like I'm shopping, I get to come home with stuff, and half the time, I bring home so many books and movies, I don't even wind up reading or watching all of them.

I've learned that shopping seems to fill a need for something different. If I come home from the library with cookbooks with new recipes to try, or a book with some craft examples or something, that often does the trick. It's not so much that I need a thing to fill that desire for something new and different; pictures, words, and ideas do the trick just fine.

I was going to suggest the library, too. Browsing the shelves feels like shopping, you get to come home with a bunch of exciting new things (books, cds, movies- all available even at my tiny library), you eventually give the items back so they don't clutter up your house, you have spent some "bored time" picking the books out, and will spend more reading them, and best of all- FREE!

Love my library!!!!