Spending diet

ljanette85

Has anyone successfully gone on a "no spend diet"? You spend money only on what you need and save the rest or use it to pay off debt. I keep on wanting to do this but it's like a diet, I'm always going to start tomorrow lol. I have two credit cards that I just can't stay away from. I pay more than the minimum every month but I would love to pay them off. Would you hide them or cut them up? I'm in school and would love to grow my savings and pay off a bit of debt before I graduate in September. I would love to hear tips and tricks for getting started and sticking to it. LO is still young but I want to exercise more discipline over my spending so that I can set a good example and teach him about good money management when he is bigger.

bullybutt

I've struggled with this also and its super hard during the holiday season (buying food for gathering/wanting to decorate house/cute clothing for kids/presents).  I've committed to not using my CC for anything this year and not paying for anything that I don't already have the money for.  I'm trying to pay on my CC as soon as I get a paycheck so that I don't spend that money on "wants".  Thankfully, I have my direct deposit set up to deposit 10% of my paycheck into a savings account each paycheck and that gives me quite a chunk of change each month (which will eventually go towards paying off my CC also).

Add:  I wouldn't cut them up in case you need them for a real emergency.  Freeze them in a bowl of ice or something.  Mine is currently "hid" in my wallet behind other useless cards.  Out of sight, out of mind (for me).

MJN9510

Ive never heard of a spending diet but I LOVE the concept!  i think I will do this at the start of the new year!

[Deleted User]

A few of us here did something similar a few months ago. We tried to go 15 days without spending anything  but what we needed to. It was really hard. Most of us slipped a little but I think we all did a good job. I want to it again after the holidays.

I wouldn't cut them up either. I keep one that I don't want to use in a old wallet on the top shelf in the way back of a old closet filled with a lot of random crap. I'm lazy and it's really inconvenient to even try to get it down. Maybe you can do something like that?

[Deleted User]

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