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I Need a Babysitter


I've always been bad with money. I like to spend it. Anything extra burns a hole in my pocket. I've gotta spend, spend, spend. And I love clothes, junk, makeup, etc. I always want to buy some new thing. I keep a long, long wishlist on Amazon. It's bad.

Recently, I realized that if I don't get this under control, I'm going to be in real trouble. So, last night I added up what I'd spent at Amazon and on clothes and shoes in the month of January alone. It was pretty frightening. I'm pretty embarrassed about the numbers. Also, I've got a credit card that needs it's balance paid down. Badly.

So, I am resolving to do better. And I'm coming clean here so that I will have to be accountable (ha) for my actions. As of last night:

1) I removed my regular CC information saved on Amazon, Paypal, and for groceries (I order them online)

2) I added an extension to my Chrome browser that closes out pages that I add to the 'forbidden' list. This is to prevent me from being tempted to shop during my lunch break, when I'm bored at home, etc. (It's a really great, funny extension called Productivity Owl. When you visit a forbidden site, the little owl swoops in and closes the tab. Then, he reminds you to get back to work. It's exactly the kind of babysitting I need!).

3) I set up an automatic payment to my CC that will pay down the balance in the fastest way possible.

4) I am putting a moratorium on all clothing, shoe, and Amazon purchases for at least the month of February. I'm thinking it will probably extend into March, too...I need to break the habit and the longer I can force myself not to shop, the better.

5) I'm ramping up my purging and hoping to recoup small portions of my past spending by restocking my etsy shop and sending unused clothes, shoes, bags, etc to thredup.

6) Mostly, I am committing to spending my time doing something productive that isn't shopping. I really love shopping. It's been a lifelong passion. It's time to find a new way to fill my time.

Anyway, wish me luck! All of this is super necessary for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is that I plan to spend a year on the road (and without a full-time job) pretty soon. So, I need to get my act together, spend smarter, and save more wisely.

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