I’m wired as a spender.
Left unchecked it can – and actually has – spiraled out of control.
Believe it or not, I racked up $80,000 of credit card debt in my twenties! Yeech!
It took a lot of commission checks to dig myself out of that hole, but as you can imagine I learned lots of lessons from that experience.
One of the big ones was impulse control.
To be clear, I won’t hesitate to spend my money.
If I want a $400 pair of loafers, I’ll get em… but not right away.
If I want a $350 piece of photography, I’ll order it… just not yet.
If I want a $650 stand-up desk, I’ll won’t blink… but I will take a breath.
I never impulsively buy anything over $20.
Instead, I keep a list of stuff I want to buy.
And I attach each purchase to a goal – weekly, monthly, quarterly or annually. (The bigger the price tag, the longer the goal.)
And then I only ‘submit payment’ once I reach that goal.
What I learned in my twenties is that I can buy ANYTHING I want. Just not EVERYTHING.
A little delayed gratification has kept my credit card balance at $0 for a very long time AND attaching it to a goal makes buying stuff waaay more satisfying knowing I earned it.
