I did not go quite that far but had to have the coolest electronics in college like I was impressing somebody and came out of school with about $4k in CC debt and a bunch of used electronics. After taking a long time to pay that off when only getting paid $30k and having to finance an apartment, car payments, and buy furniture the stress of debt made me say "never again."

I still buy stuff I want but only if it fits into my monthly budget or I saved in advance. (one reasonable car payment excluded)

As far as people who have no self control with things like food, I suppose I would always be eating a bunch of crap if I had it in the house, I just don't buy it. You only need to have self control in the grocery store for five minutes to solve that problem. I do not even enter the snack aisle or the cookie/candy aisle. If I did I would buy a pack of nutter butters each time and eat them in two days.

 

You should look into a high-yield checking account, it will pay a higher interest rate than your online savings account will. That's where I keep my emergency savings.

Here's another way of looking at spending on un-necessary items, basically your wants instead of your needs. Use it as a reward. Setup your own system where you have a goal and if you achieve it then you can reward yourself with X.

I haven't had an S2000 or any sports car for nearly 2 years now. I have wanted one really bad, but I ended up buying 2 houses over the last 2 years, so I just haven't had the cash to buy a toy. I told myself that if by the end of the year I can do the following three things, I can reward myself with a $20,000 sports car. 1. I have to go without tickets or accidents, 2. have $x in stocks and 3. have a net worth of $x.

 

A quick search on some of those looks interesting, but they all looked like they require you to jump through hoops to get the best rate (at least 10-15 debit card transactions per month, login to check your account online once per month, etc, etc). I don't want to have to change or monitor my spending habits just to qualify for their rate. I want it to be default.

So, that might work for some people, but I just don't think it would work for me. Thanks for the suggestion, though!

 

This.

You'll end up saving more.

 

I don't have this problem. I prefer to call it discipline instead of self-control, probably just semantics.

When I was younger, I set some goals for what I wanted (a car, house, etc...) and did things in line with that. I found that if I wanted to save towards a house, I couldn't go out as often as I was, or drive a nicer car. I chose a down payment as the most important, and worked towards that.

I chose to split my savings into a few different direct deposit transactions. That helped make sure I put money away each check. Now, it doesn't matter which account, I'm past the issues of knowing what I make, what I spend, and where it goes. It's now about the decision to buy, not about how to pay.

If you're really worried about, take drastic actions. Cut up your credit cards, or have the limits lowered to only what you can and are willing to pay each month. You're other resort is to cut them and go completely to a pre-paid model. You can only spend what you have on the card.

 

I write notes to myself.

 

i wish.

I am asian and I have problems! AHH

 

The hardest thing is control, but I have tons of it. I get excited but I"m good at then stepping back and letting it stew...then i do research and drive myself insane. Finally I usually end up getting the item if I still want it but after my research and self torture I usually get a good deal on it.

 

How were you planning on buying a 25K piano? If you have the cash, stick it in a 5 year CD so you can't touch it. If credit, drop your credit cards to a $1500 limit.

 

No offense, but that seems like a terrible idea. CDs are paying ~1-3% right now. I doubt that's even enough to keep up with inflation. You need higher yields than that if you're going to save/invest any large sum of money... especially if you're going to have it tied up and unavailable for 5 years.