Gimme! gimme! gimme! Are You a Shopaholic? Then you should have a look at this lengthy article on the "Get Rich Slowly" website.

In the "Coping with compulsive spending" section, the writer identifies and explains several ways with which to deal with this problem. Two of my favourites are: 1) Carrying cash. By relying exclusively on cash, you avoid the convenience and temptation of having a cheque book or credit/debit card which makes for easy purchases. Also, if and when you do run out of cash, you can't buy anything else since you don't have any plastic, or cheques on your person.

2) Tracking every penny you spend. At set intervals, you review how much you've spent, and where you've spent it. No doubt this will result in a surprise or two. The problem here is setting aside the time to record your spending. My humble suggestion? Store all your receipts in your wallet, purse or pockets, and at the end of the day (or at the start of the next day), pull them out, and key them into a simple spreadsheet. The longer you wait to do this, the quicker the paperwork will pile up, the more time you'll lose, the more frustrated you'll become and the quicker you will toss the whole tracking idea into the rubbish bin.

Labels: life, money

8:39 AM