A few things that work for me...
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| Mon, 10-17-2005 - 11:11pm |
Hi everyone, its reassuring to know that there are other people going through the same struggles as me, and i thought i could maybe give some hints that have helped me not blow every last dime and then some (ok, alot)
The last time i maxed out my credit card, I froze it. and by that i mean i put it in a cup of water in the freezer. That way if i really want to use it, i have to wait untill it thaws out and think over my puchase. this really has worked for me! that really cute random piece of junk i just HAD to have yesterday seems silly to buy the next day.
Next, i opened up an account with a bank that has online bill pay, so as soon as my pay check is deposited, i go down the list and just enter the amount to pay for each bill. that way i have all of my finances staring me in the face, and i dont feel the urge to just "forget" that phone bill on the counter. It also shows me right there the last time i made a payment, and the last time i paid it. this month i just gasped at the last time i paid one of my cards, when other wise i would have just pushed it out of my mind.
take CASH to the grocery store with you. if i have my credit card or debit card when i go, i can spend $150 easy on groceries. when i take $75 cash, i buy only what i need, and i know that there is no extra cash to spend on doritos or that cute thanksgiving set in the aisle.
so these are a few of my methods, and they seem to work pretty well when i can just USE them! Lemme know if this helps anybody!
Jen

I agree with the online billpay. I was one of those people who said, "If it's not broke, don't fix it", and stuck with the paper bills each month. My Mom always said that it was a great record of payment to record the date, check number and date paid on each bill and file it away. So that's what I've always done.
BUT...with the gas prices being high, I was sitting at home last payday thinking about how I'd have to make a special trip to the post office to mail out my bills, and then it hit me....go see if I can pay them online! LOL! :-D I didn't set up the billpay through my bank, although I could if i wanted to. I went to each individual vendor and paid them there. Gosh, that was the quickest and easiest thing to do! I made the payment and recorded it in my normal checkbook register. I was even able to pay my son's Gerber 'Grow-up' Life Insurance plan online! I made the payments through my debit card, and then I'd go to my bank website to make sure it was debited correctly, and all of my payments were made just fine. :-D
Pat
Thanks for sharing your tips! I am a big fan of cash. Even when I use a debit card, I am more likely to spend an extra few dollars than if I have to use cash. I don't use cash at gas stations, since I'm not going to buy any more gas with Amex than if I were using cash. ;)
I have almost all my bills paid through automatic deductions from my checking account. I've been doing this for years, because I am terrible at actually sitting down and writing checks, even though I have the money in my account. I set it up for my mortgage, HELOC, debt management agency, gym, all my insurance companies (life, disability, car), phone companies, electric company, and DirecTV. The only bills I write checks for are Amex and local vendors such as doctors and lawn care. The money is taken out the same day every month, so there are no surprises. Since I get paid on the last day of every month, I have all of this taken out within the first 7 days of the month. When I update my checkbook (by hand), I enter all those automatic deductions first. Then we're left with whatever is left for the rest of the month.
Freezing my cards wouldn't help - I rarely shop in person and I know my Amex number by heart - but I minimize the temptation to shop with credit cards by unsubscribing from promotional mailings from my favorite stores and throwing away most catalogs without looking at them. I have a clothing budget, and it doesn't include any jewelry from Ross Simons or lingerie from Victoria's Secret, so I sigh and throw those out without even opening them.
I also rewrite my budget every quarter. Usually it's the same as the previous quarter, but it reminds me of what my limits are. I also periodically designate a month as being one in which we will record ALL expenses on a whiteboard in the kitchen, which I add up weekly. It is shocking what we WON'T spend money on if we have to write it down where it can be seen in public - and shocking how much we would spend if we didn't have to.
Kelly