overspending posts

Bad habits are hard to kick and new data from an informal poll of 700 readers at Get Rich Slowly and Money-Rates has revealed that "poor spending habits" are to blame for a majority of individuals missing their savings goals in 2009, not the recession.

"It's a little disturbing that even in tough economic times, so many people were unable to rein in spending," MoneyRates.com spokesman Richard Barrington said in a press release. I have to agree with him, even if I fall into the majority myself.

Want to avoid overspending on Black Friday? An amino acid you ingest in Thanksgiving dinners with lots of carbs and turkey could help you fight off that urge to impulse buy, according to a study by two researchers from the University of Utah's School of Business.

Aril Mishra and Himanshu Mishra suspect that the effect is chemical. Turkey and other traditional Thanksgiving foods contain the amino acid tryptophan, which increases the levels of serotonin in the brain.

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter which aids the passage of messages through the brain, influencing many functions including sleep, memory, learning, sex drive, mood, and appetite. The body uses trytophan to make serotonin.

Move over AA, NA and other 12-step programs, now there is Debtors Anonymous for those addicted to overspending. Patterned after Alcoholics Anonymous, DA is a 12-step program to help spenders recover from chronic debt and compulsive spending.

In DA, the first step for recovery is accurately tracking every dime, nickel and penny of spending for 90 days. The new DA member is then paired up with two or more veteran members who assist in formulating a new plan for spending and budgeting. The weekly meetings offer support and encouragement to members, particularly if there is a spending relapse.

In a crowded market of online budgeting applications, it's hard for a product to stand out, especially when the competition contains heavyweights like Wesabe, Mint and Rudder. But that's what Quicken Online does. Quicken separates itself from its competitors in two important areas; ease of use and a clear focus on those of us living paycheck to paycheck.

For new users, the ease of use is quickly apparent when it comes to linking your bank account with Quicken Online. While account linking is a standard feature of online budgeting tools, those who of us who bank at smaller institutions and credit unions have had to manually download account activity and then upload it in order to keep accounts up to date. Quicken has made it easier than ever to update your info. By working some magic on the back-end, it's able to link up to my credit union's online bank account with only a "captcha" to stand in the way; a great improvement from the upload practices at other budget tools.

Plastic is the devil. All of it. Whether it be plastic surgery or plastic credit cards, it is all evil. I've become so accustomed to using my debit card that I use it for literally everything. People tell me, "Just leave it at home," or "Don't use it," but that's hard. Especially since I have memorized the number.

I don't need to have my credit card on hand to order the new Ipod when I can just punch my number onto the internet. I've even got the expiration date and the CVV number in my head. It's horrible being blessed with a photographic memory.

That leads to the problem of overspending. It's so easy to spend money with a debit card. You want to know what's worse? My bank pays everything. All checks...all debits. Even if I'm about to go into the negatives. That has led me to some deep red numbers.

In my last post I told you of my problems. About how I love "things." I also talked about how I would track my spending for a week and post it here, for ALL to see. I must say I was a little hesitant in the beginning. "Do I really want EVERYONE to be able to see my bad habits," I told myself. I even delayed this post a few days while I tossed around the idea of doing this. But look no further...here it is...7 days of spending...courtesy of the lax spender.

02/13/2008 breakfast: $7.
02/13/2008 Carlene lunch: $4.
02/14/2008 water bill: $132.
02/14/2008 lunch: $9.42
02/15/2008 lunch: $30.
02/15/2008 New Phone: $300.
02/15/2008 Shaq Jersey: $100.
02/16/2008 new phone: $360.
02/17/2008 dinner: $12.
02/17/2008 lunch : $34.