Overspending Yes/no?

[Morbid Side]

This is for those who have a bad habit of overspending. I am a card carrying member of this problem, I just don't know when to stop. When I have cash in my hands it feels like it's going to burn a hole in my pocket if I don't spend some of it. Discuss..

[Msterbeau]

I suck at money issues too. I should have gone to overspenders anonamous a long time ago.

[FarrIL]

Same here. I'm still half-tempted to make use of the Employee Discount this weekend but I'm still debating if I want to purchase anything that I've been dying to get for a while or not. ;o;

[Head Wreck]

yes.

i have many toys. but King arms is releasing a rep of the FAL this month. one more silly long rifle wont hurt?

[Scary Guy]

I bought a car that eats gas like I eat pizza. I can't overspend because I never have any extra money.

[creatureofthenyte]

I bought a car that eats gas like I eat pizza. I can't overspend because I never have any extra money.

Does it have a big block V8 in it ?

[Crazed Vampyress]

My main issue is that for over two years i had a job that took up all of my time, like 60 hours a week, and after that i had no energy to really HAVE a life, but i had a lot of money so i would spend it on my one or two days off. and NOW i have a regular 40-hour job that doesnt suck up my whole life, but i make less money and still want to spend like i used to. its hard, but im getting better. i had to put myself on an allowance. sounds silly but its worked!

[Scary Guy]

Does it have a big block V8 in it ?

Not a big block no, but it does have a V8, and it's heavy as hell.

Wouldn't have it any other way though :D

[Fierce Critter]

Don't get me started.

Jon and I are REALLY fantastic at making money. We can pull it out of our asses like pulling leaves off trees. We don't have too much pride to pull crap out of garbage bins to sell on eBay, and have made thousands doing so.

But I was an overspender before I married another one. So keeping each other in check is really hard. We both have different things we like to spend on, and both are enablers. It's a constant struggle.

We have, however, made wise moves to keep the damage at a minimum. For instance, we only had one single actual credit card since we got together, and kept the minimum very, very low. They tried to raise it several times, and each time we called them and made them lower it again. The total amount of actual credit card debt we hold is less than $1700. And we have canceled the card. We only use debit cards or cash now. I don't even carry a checkbook with me. I write all of 2 checks per month, and that's only 'cause my landlord and my electric company don't take online payments.

We also have made it a point to make sure that the one thing we absolutely, positively pay on time and never miss is our rent. Since we have such bad credit, we really rely on the recommendations of past landlords when renting.

Our truck will be paid off sometime mid next year. That is absolutely our last car payment, ever. From this point forward, it's all used vehicles for cash. Even if they're junkers, the amount of money we'll save on payments & insurance premiums can be saved and applied toward renting a car for a week or so if we want to drive up north for a vacation. Heh. If we can get ourselves to the point where we can actually SAVE.

Right now, with me unable to work, we're just barely breaking even. And the end of the month is always a scramble to make sure we can pay the rent, because Jon hasn't brought home a 40-hour paycheck very often in the past few months. I'm real tired of the struggle, and we're running out of things we can sell quickly. He's going to have to help me do eBay soon or we're going to miss payments we haven't missed in years.

So we're not really able to overspend right now. Rediscovering the simple pleasures of home, and home cooking for sure. Jon's turned out to be a pretty damned good cook. I don't miss eating at restaurants when he's in the kitchen. Hopefully, once things even out, we'll find it easier to hold onto the money that's not really there right now.

[Homicidalheathen]

I have a weakness for music equipment.....so I stay away from Guitar center now.

[kellygrrrrrl]

Overspending...what's that?.....

heh.

Yeah...I have the same problem.

I can only hope that I can pay off these credit card bills soon.....in the next 5-10 years....

[JaneDead]

i am not an over-spender.

even if i wanted to be i don't have that luxury.

my husband does a fine job of blowing all our money so there is nothing left for me to spend.

[Fierce Critter]

my husband does a fine job of blowing all our money so there is nothing left for me to spend.

I know you're joking, but that can be a serious problem. So if there's a non-joke hidden there, I can relate.

Jon would like to say he's the better of the two of us when it comes to NOT spending money. But he's really kidding himself. He's just as bad. I think we're pretty equal.

Actually, since I'm the one making the actual bill payments each month, and juggling having the money available for things like prescription refills, vehicle registrations, etc., I'm a bit more aware of what we do and don't have than he is.

So when he suggests, "don't cook, let's go to Red Lobster, 'cause I REALLY want that shrimp", It's easier for me to say, "we can't do Red Lobster. But we can do Taco Bell."

What we really need, however, is the strength to BOTH say, "we can't afford EITHER Red Lobster OR Taco Bell, so it's homemade stew or baked chicken thighs tonight."

Honestly, dining out is where we're the most guilty of overspending. It's really easy, too, when my motivation is as bad as it is right now, and the kitchen is so messy it's a deterrent to even wanting to cook in it.

So even though I'm aware of what we SHOULDN'T spend, old habits are hard to break, and if he suggests dining out, it can be very, very hard for me to be the "strong" one and insist that we don't.

I've tried to involve him in the budget process, but he doesn't have the patience. We had an interesting experience over the weekend, however. He got a decent amount of money for his birthday Friday. We went yard saleing on Saturday, and he kept the cash and was in charge of keeping track of what to and not-to spend.

He spent a big chunk on a single item for himself. And when he realized how little was left, it got through to him what PERCENTAGES are - as in, he spent about 30%, nearly 1/3rd of ALL our cash on one single thing. That, I think, got through to him more than anything else has so far.

Now he's selling it to get his $20 back and make some profit, too.

I do that, too. Bought 2 pairs of boots in the past few months. Both ended up honestly not working out either style or size-wise. So I resold them. But instead of putting the money back into more boots or something, I put the money straight into bills. I just get tired of scrambling to do that.

Looking forward to being back on my feet so I can help even out our income with eBay sales. This year was great being back in Michigan. But it has sucked financially.

[Anathema]

every damn day this happens to me!