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How to avoid spending money

Have you ever heard the phrase, "never go shopping when your hungry ?" Well what about when you are tired?, or sad?, or depressed? You go to Wal-Mart for a pick me up and come back home with a $300.00 dent in your pocket. Or what about special days like, Great Aunt Emma's birthday coming up, or your husband just got a raise and you want to celebrate? So when do you go shopping? When all the milk is gone and the cupboards are bare? No. Plan ahead. Failure to plan is planning to fail.

Two rules of thumb. Go early in the morning and leave the kids home! The quickest way to lose money is to take little Johnny and Suzy shopping with you all to hear yourself saying no Johnny that was not on the list and then to hear the apathetic cries of "but mommy please! I just want this one transformer!?" And then the cries become louder and pretty soon little Johnny is causing a commotion for onlookers of all ages to see. And you cave in to get to get him to stop! Then you get home feeling pretty silly when little Johnny ends up playing rather enthusiastically with a rubber band in the back seat instead of Mr. transformer you just paid $14.00 too much for! Suzy wasn't too bad, she just asked for a pair of sandals for $25.00 but when you told her she already had a pair like that, she said ok and you thought to yourself thank goodness she didn't ask for a different pair. 95% of shopping done in America to day is done on impulse, without rhyme or reason, it just so happens that's the way the wind blew so you bought it.
Like buying a pair of big hoop earrings because you felt like it and the other 30 pairs at home are all missing their mate! So don't be like the rest of America, Don't shop on impulse. Your thinking in the early morning hours tends to be way clearer then at lunchtime when you are rushing on your lunch break and are starving or at 3 or 7 at night when you've already had a crazy day and you just want to relax. Eat breakfast first, make a short list of things you need vs. things you want and only bring $20.00 with you. If you are a person who loves to shop. Only bring $20.00 in cash with you every time especially if your not buying groceries for the week, no check books and no credit cards. This is great because it will force you to check prices and to not overspend. The minute you swipe that card all discipline has flown out the window. Cash is great because there is a limit on it. If you don't have it then you can't spend

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