How can I get better at not being impulsive with money and also to not jump from

[taylor00257]

interest to interest? My changes in interests contribute big time to my impulsiveness with money. When I get into something, I tend to spend money on my interest. I'm impulsive with money >.<. How are you with money when it comes to your interests?

[Rootkit]

I'm personally retarded with money. I know how stupid my purchases are, yet they happen anyway. Also gets annoying because it'll take ages for me to lose interest in buying something, meaning every time something nabs my attention it's some sort of prolonged struggle to leave it be. And buying junk food. Terrible with that too.

[taylor00257]

You sound like me. With my purchases recently I've bought Pokemon Cards, Magic the Gathering cards, and World of Warcraft cards. I'm bad at grocery shopping too, I eat a lot of junk foods. I hear you on the it taking ages to lose interest in buying something and everything

[Johnnny]

I found also that i used to spend money excessively on junk food. Now i buy the ingredients from the grocery store and end up spending an hour making food. It kills time and saves money.

[lalapin]

I really have a hard time grocery shopping... I'm just so attracted to carbs!! I like crackers and chips so much it's not even funny... I try my best to not eat them! It's so hard to plan groceries... Even if i'm medicated! I'm an excellent cook though, if only I was organized in a kitchen... How do you guys do that?

[minuss]

Grocery shoping is the worst I always end up with the biggest bill and the least bags!

As for the money, make it your intrest. to accumulate it, guard it.

All you need is a month of not spending. that will give you a reserve in the account. why should you stop at 0 balance ? why not at 1000$ balance?

[Drewbacca]

Money holds no value to me. The sooner I spend it, the better! Not that I tend to go into debt, I just don't care to save. Fortunately, I usually waste it on tools and art supplies, so I can at least turn around and be productive once I'm broke.

Lately, my obsession has been bicycles. In the recent past, it was musical instruments... specifically, analog synths. Collecting books is also somewhat of an addiction.

I try to spend more time at thrift shops and used-book stores to get the impulse out of my system.

What does manage to keep me in check, is an obsession with quality. I won't buy whatever is cheap simply b/c I can afford it. If I think it is junk, I won't buy it.

[BlueSmurf]

What's wrong with spending the money as long as you can afford it?

I personally shift my interests every few months on a particular topic. Recently, I decided to go all out upgrading my bedroom, and before that, it was bicycle and related accessories.

[fracturedstory]

I have noticed I have this problem too. I'm addicted to the AppStore and my iPad is only about 16GB, I usually have only 3-5GB left, so I can't have very many games or games of huge sizes. So I download/buy them, delete them, but more but I always get over the games within a week. The games remain on my computer so I can always add them back on but I get so sick of them.

I think I need a bigger iPad. Yes that is the only solution. Spend $700 so I can spend $6, 1.99, $11 on games even more...

[ADDinHDefgHi?!]

it never ceases to amaze me how much I have in common with everyone here. I spend money like it's nothing, I rarely think more than a day or two in advance when I'm making money. When I'm broke I'm more careful but just barely.

Lately I've been buying too many apps, nutrition drinks, cheeseburgers, guitar strings, magic cards, and of course gasoline at 5 dollars a gallon... that's where too much of my money goes. I'm also not too great at keeping up with my checking account. There always seems to be some fees everytime I deposit a new check.

I'm horrible with money, I need to change bad. I grew up playing music never worrying about tomorrow.. I even trained myself to stay in the moment. So yeah, very impulsive. just bought a shirt I liked for no reason earlier today.

[425runner]

I have that problem too...when I had a job I used to spend on frivolous things, I'm probably amazon's favorite customer by now. Being unemployed taught me to be more careful, after I pay rent and other bills there's no money left.

Also, I found Wellbutrin made me very impulsive like that...or just made things worse.

[Johnnny]

Theres learning the hard way. Thats when the money goes from a flow to a trickle and you feel the pinch....

Or there is the easyway, and thats saving your pennies for the rainy days. Finding methods to help you, thinking out the problem....

They say we have ADD or in my case ADD-hyperactivity and that we are creative people. So whats stopping us from creatively finding new ways to save money? Talking about it helps for only so long, the sooner you go from a little less talk to alot more action thats when things start to change. Those smart people that had ADD that invented all those great things were men and women of action. Even if they had to practice and train themselves to be that way. It starts in the heart.

[Crackpotdad]

So glad to hear I am not the only one with this problem!

My worst impulse buy- Bonsai Trees

And not just one Bonsai tree. Many over the course of two weeks.

First one I couldn't wait to "shape" it. Oops. Kind of like that kid who gives himself a haircut. So then I bought a few more. Only after I bought them did I decide to read up on it. Only then did I learn about very precise daily care, and the patience needed to properly grow a Bonsai Trees. Who would of thunk directions were in years, not hours?

Disaster.... And I still haven't kicked the urge, so I have to avoid certain garden stores still.

[Verile]

Originally Posted by Rootkit

I'm personally retarded with money. I know how stupid my purchases are, yet they happen anyway. Also gets annoying because it'll take ages for me to lose interest in buying something, meaning every time something nabs my attention it's some sort of prolonged struggle to leave it be. And buying junk food. Terrible with that too.

This. Good God. I can resist the initial impulse to buy something but then it just nags and nags and nags and nags at me endlessly until I can either conclusively say, "I don't need it! I can't afford it!" or I rationalize that I do need it or it's not worth fighting against.

I'm actually pretty good about buying junk food. Some days are worse than others but I know myself. If I keep a bag of chips or pack of oreos in the house, I can't leave it alone. I will eat the entire thing in one sitting. The only way to avoid this is to not buy it to begin with. I try to limit myself to 1 small item at the store, like those 100 mL cartons of ice cream that cost a buck. I generally am too lazy to drive all the way to the store to satisfy a sweet tooth so as long as I only go shopping once a week and satisfy this craving then I'm usually good.

What does manage to keep me in check, is an obsession with quality. I won't buy whatever is cheap simply b/c I can afford it. If I think it is junk, I won't buy it.

Same but this works against me too because that makes all the things I buy more expensive. But yeah, if I want something, I want the best that I can reasonably afford.

[taylor00257]

Amazon loves me too >.< lol i just bought a Xbox 360 Holiday Bundle, a home theater system (one of the cheaper ones), 2 different Call of Duty Games and I should be saving that money for moving, but moving is months away. Impulsiveness is both fun and a pain. I need to save for a car too