One of the biggest hurdles to a family’s budget is impulse spending. You can make all the plans about your money that you want, but if you don’t have the willpower to avoid making unplanned (or unbudgeted) purchases, your budget is simply a work of fiction. You have to stick to the plan.
I realize that getting out of the habit of making impulse purchases is hard. For some of us, it’s really hard. I see cute things and want to buy them for the kids. My husband sees cool gadgets and wants to bring them home. Believe me; I understand how tempting impulse spending can be.
So, let me tell you a few of the things we’ve tried to help us resist the temptation:
Live like you don’t have any money. Do you remember how you lived when you were a college student? You had a few dollars every month, and when the money was gone you were just done spending. We try to instill the same mentality into our family’s finances now. I made aggressive deposits into our savings account to keep our checking account at a minimal level every month. These deposits mean that there is never a lot of extra money lying around to be spent on silly things.
Avoid temptation at every chance. Obviously, you’re still going to have to go grocery shopping or make that regular trip to the store for shampoo and other toiletries. I try, though, to avoid just about every other type of shopping venue that I can avoid. I don’t go “window shopping” with my girlfriends or visit craft fairs. My husband avoids “checking out” the clearance aisle. We know that these temptations are our weakness to we try to stay away from it.
Keep yourself motivated to meeting your savings goals. I’ve found that I do a much better job of sticking to my spending plans when I have a good reason to stick to them. Are you on a tight budget so that you can save for a vacation? I would keep a brochure about my dream destination in my pocketbook. Are you working towards paying off debt? I would keep a small copy of my debt snowball list in my wallet (maybe wrapped around my debit card).
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