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Posted
Nov 26 2007, 06:00 AM
by
Karen Datko
Rating:
This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly . I had dinner with a friend the other night. Over pasta and clams, we talked about life and money. She told me about her brother. "He's a compulsive spender," she said. "He spends money even when he doesn't have any." "What do you mean?" I asked. "Well," she said, "for one thing, he spends his money before he gets it. For example, when he was still working with Big Computer Company Inc., somebody told him he was going to get a raise. But instead of waiting for the raise, he started spending as if he already had the money. He never got the raise." I nodded. I've done that in the past. I used to be a compulsive spender too. For years, I was addicted to shopping. I got a rush out of buying new stuff. I especially liked buying new books and movies. But, actually, I didn't care what I bought: It was the act of buying that made me feel good. Sometimes on the drive home from work, I'd stop at a department store just so I could buy
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Posted
Jul 14 2008, 07:00 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This guest post comes from Silicon Valley Blogger at The Digerati Life. Our family has experienced a few changes over the last couple of years, which has required us to become much more watchful over our finances. My spouse left his job a couple of years ago to start his own company, while I worked at a stable job to assure ourselves a reliable income stream. I stayed with my job for quite a while despite a killer commute. But things got even tighter when I resigned this year due to the commute, for health reasons and in order to seek a better work/life balance. At first, it seemed like a frightening decision that would impact our finances significantly. But it turns out, we've been able to roll with the punches. Savings we built up through the years (particularly during the dot-com boom) plus changes we've made to our spending habits have helped us adjust to a life with less income.
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Posted
Nov 28 2007, 09:01 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from partner blog The Dough Roller . If I could write just one thing about achieving financial freedom, it would be this: Spend less than you make. Like all habits that lead to financial freedom, spending less than you make is simple to understand, but hard to follow. For some reason, we always want more. At times in my life I've made very little, and other times I've made a lot, but at all times I've wanted just a wee bit more. I find it just as difficult to live below my means today as I did 15 years ago making about one-third of what I make today. The problem isn't about how much we make. We are the problem. This is critical to understand because until you identify the problem, you can't fix it. If you think the problem is your income, you'll spend your energy trying to make more money. While there is obviously nothing wrong with making more money, I speak from experience when I say that making more money will not make spending less than you make any easier. So what will
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Posted
Apr 22 2008, 06:30 AM
by
Karen Datko
This post comes from partner blog Blueprint for Financial Prosperity. Have you ever gone to the mall and impulsively bought something you hadn't intended to buy? Have you ever gone to the grocery store and walked out with a couple things you didn't plan on getting? Sure, we all have.
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Posted
Sep 10 2009, 05:08 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from Trent Hamm at partner blog The Simple Dollar.
I'm often tempted to spend money that I shouldn't.
I'm good at restraining my impulsive nature. I don't simply go into stores and then emerge later with a hefty bag, a credit card bill, and a dazed look on my face. Still, in certain places, I am strongly tempted to spend. I look around and see tons of items that I'd like to have.
Here are seven places that really fuel my spending desires.
Bookstores. What can I say? I love to read. I read about 10 books a month for my own enjoyment and probably five more for The Simple Dollar and other professional purposes. The smell and feel and sight of a new book are like manna to me. I usually resist most of my impulses by arguing to myself that I can get those books at the library or at PaperBackSwap, but it's definitely a struggle -- one I don't always win.
Williams-Sonoma. As I get more and more adept in the kitchen, I'm slowly upgrading my kitchen equipment to superior versions of the cheap (and sometimes problematic) equipment I have on hand. Williams-Sonoma does an extremely good job of convincing me to accelerate this upgrade process, enticing me with better knives, a wide array of very nice pots and pans, and lots of other items.
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Posted
Apr 10 2009, 05:35 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This guest post comes from Frank Curmudgeon at Bad Money Advice.
As any reader of Bad Money Advice knows, I enjoy nothing more than tweaking the nose of personal-finance conventional wisdom. Well, joy of joys, The New York Times recently had an article, in the science section no less, that spits in conventional wisdom's face, knees it in the groin and then kicks it as it rolls on the ground.
The piece discussed the work (.pdf file) of Ran Kivetz and Anat Keinan, two professors of marketing from the Columbia and Harvard business schools, respectively. (Marketing professor is, incidentally, the same line of work as the authors of "The Millionaire Next Door.") They have discovered a new malady to avoid: saver's remorse. It's just what it sounds like: that sad feeling you get with money in your pocket that you could have spent in some enjoyable way but, in a moment of weakness, chose to save.
This is just so awesome.
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Posted
Jan 25 2008, 08:37 AM
by
Donna Freedman
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This post comes from freelance writer Abby Freedman, daughter of Smart Spending blogger Donna Freedman.
Deep, dark secret time: My mother writes for Smart Spending and I am in credit card debt. Assuming you haven't fainted dead away, let me explain. My fiancé has an inherited calcium deficiency that's been exacerbated by treatment for a couple of other health problems. His teeth were literally crumbling away by the time I met him. Last spring, he made an appointment with an oral surgeon and a denturist.
Since we didn't happen to have the needed $8,500 lying around, we started researching credit card deals. We wound up putting about two-thirds of the cost on a new credit card that offered 0% percent interest for six months. The rest was paid with "convenience checks" from my existing credit card at 3.99% for six months.
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Posted
Jul 01 2009, 06:24 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from Paul Michael at partner blog Wise Bread.
How are you doing with your money? Do you have everything under control, or are you spending a little more than you should?
Well, if you'd like to blow even more of your money, this list will help you empty your bank account in half the time you usually do. Enjoy.
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Gamble in Vegas. Sure, some people get lucky. But most of us blow a wad and leave feeling like reckless morons.
- Spend your spare time surfing the bargain sites. It doesn't matter if you don't actually need anything. You'll find something to buy.
- Shop hungry. It's amazing how much extra food you'll throw in your cart.
- Draw more money out of the ATM than you need. If you get $20, you'll spend $20. If you get $40, it will disappear just as quickly.
- Become an impulse buyer. See something in a shop window, grab it immediately and worry about the cost later.
- Pay bills late. That will eat up some serious cash in the form of late fees and interest rate hikes, and sometimes will damage your credit rating.
- Lend money to people who won't pay you back, even when they say it will be different this time.
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Posted
Dec 15 2008, 05:37 AM
by
Karen Datko
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This post comes from J.D. Roth at partner blog Get Rich Slowly. In the past, many Get Rich Slowly readers have sung the praises of the "adult allowance." Though I've read enthusiastic comments supporting this idea, I've never paid it much heed. To be honest, it's always sounded lame, and I didn't think it would be useful to me. I was wrong. Accidental allowance Before our short vacation in early October, I pulled $200 out of the ATM. This is unusual for me. I don't like to carry a lot of cash. I find it easier to track my spending when I use credit or debit cards.
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Posted
Jun 16 2008, 08:57 AM
by
Donna Freedman
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A year ago, a regular reader who calls herself "SC CDF" really wanted an ice-cream maker. These days she can barely remember having wanted it. She proposed that we write down what we want and then check back later to see if we still want it. That's why in April I started a Smart Spending message board thread called "What do you want? Will you still want it a year from now?"
Readers posted their burning desires: a great camera and printer, electronic gadgets, new cookware, computers, automobiles, furniture. Most of those who reported back later on the updated thread said they did not get what they wanted. But all of them were OK with that.
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