Addicted to Spending Money?There are many people addicted to spending money, but you don't have to be one of them. If you're going to get out of debt and stay out, you'll have to learn about why you spend money and then make corrections in your spending habits. It's all a matter of whether or not you are committed to frugal living. It's not mystery that being addicted to spending money and being frugal are mutually exclusive. Let's look at the many wasteful habits of the spendaholic and see if we can't find a way to stop. It's important to stop spending money, or at least slow it down to a crawl. If this concept of "stop" isn't clear to you, then I have some examples to share with you (along with a little sarcastic tongue lashing) to see if it might help you to stop spending money on low value wants instead of high priority needs. If you think "stop" means pause, take a break, back off a bit, or reduce your spending, then you're just fooling yourself and most certainly you're probably addicted to spending money. This page won't do you any good at all. You'll need to learn about your spendaholic ways to understand what you're doing to yourself and those around you. For the rest of you, proceed with identifying why you spend money and put holes in your financial boat. You may be mildly addicted to spending money, or just have bad spending habits. In any case, there is plenty of hope for you. Why you Spend MoneyYou know what you spend money on, now let's look at the reasons (or excuses) for spending money. These are the whys for parting with your wealth. This is the hard part. You have to face yourself and admit that perhaps your reasoning isn't the best. You might have to admit that you are at least somewhat addicted to spending money, and you need to change your ways for your own good, and the good of those associated with you. See how many of these whys are familiar to you and your spending decisions. Be honest with yourself. You'll go nowhere fast if you just keep kidding yourself about your motivations to spend.
Perhaps there are some eye-openers here. Take a good look at the list. You might notice that this list of whys can be separated into rational choices and emotional responses. Do you see where I am headed? I hope you do. They key to getting back on good financial footing is to focus on rational needs and try your best to avoid satisfying your emotional desires. Our Financial FocusIdeally, we should be spending money on important and essential things that support our "long view" of life, instead of non-essential and self-satisfying things that aren't in our best interest over the longer haul. You can probably see from this list that there are probably at least a handful of unwise spending decisions that you are propping up with a bunch of excuses and rationalizations. I hope you can see this, because awareness is a good first step toward achieving financial success. Even for those mildly addicted to spending money, you have to be determined to make rational decisions about things that you need, and stop fooling yourself about non-essentials. Decision TimeYou have to decide whether you're going to pull out of a financial nose dive or ride it all the way down until you crash and burn. The key question to ask yourself is whether the "feel good" of purchases now is worth the "dread" of bills, enslavement to creditors, and a greatly limited lifestyle that will haunt you until it's off your back. So, awareness is key to reversing even a mild spending addiction. You need to understand what you are spending money on and most importantly why. Don't convince yourself with excuses. Establish sound reasoning for spending money or you'll just end up feeding the addiction. Stay committed to frugal living and you'll have the financial freedom that you deserve. Done with Addicted to Spending Money - take me back to Paying Off Debt |
