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.

There's no doubt that the current downturn has changed people's spending habits.

Since the peak in housing wealth, homeowners lost more than $5 trillion in equity and 15 million homeowners own homes that are now underwater (worth less than they owe). Unemployment is hovering near 10% with no clear signs of falling.

Homeowners' previous piggy bank -- home equity -- is no longer available for spending. Even if people still hold a job, many are worried that their jobs are at risk and won't spend except for necessities.

People, afraid for their future also changed their savings habits. In the first quarter of 2008, before the recession took hold people saved about 1% of disposable income. By the second quarter of 2009 the savings rate soared to 5% of disposable income. But now that we appear to be near the end of the recession the savings rate dropped back to slightly above 3% in the third quarter of 2009, as people see the end of the recession in sight.

While economists now don't believe this recession will be as deep as the Great Depression, its depth and length will certainly change people's spending and savings habits for a long time to come.

If you like the simplicity of Amazon's One Click purchases, then you may fall in love with the new Amazon PayPhrase service that just launched.

PayPhrase lets you create a phrase associated with your Amazon account and complete purchases at Amazon and partner stores like DKNY, Jockey, Buy.com and more with an easy to remember phrase, like "WalletPop Rocks." The phrase must be used in conjunction with a PIN number.

The new PayPhrase service doesn't just remove your need to remember a username and password; it offers some other handy features as well.

• Privacy: You don't have to share your credit card with other Web sites.
• Control: You can set up a phrase to be associated with a specific address and credit card.
• Allowances: Set allowances or spending limits on a specific phrase for your teen.

The ability to tie a specific payment method and address to a catchphrase is really nifty and should make keeping personal purchases separate from work or small business purchases which would go on a different card.

But, there may be a use to Amazon's PayPhrase that can help you control your spending, or at least shame you for it.

This week Intuit released Quicken 2010, the latest update to the popular Quicken line of personal finance software.

Included in the release are several features and enhancements to provide a better user experience in Quicken 2010 as well as an easy-to-use conversion tool to help Microsoft Money users convert to Quicken 2010.

Of the enhancements and upgrades to Quicken, customers will appreciate the following five features that will make using and sticking with Quicken 2010 easier.

• Faster setup -- New three-step guide gets you up and running faster than before.
• Simplified navigation -- Easier access to the tools you want to use.
• At a glance homepage -- All of your important info on one page; saving spending and bills.
• Automatic categorization -- Transactions are now automatically added to the right category -- saving you time.
• Easier to use -- More welcoming to new users and provides customization.

The New York Daily News has a cautionary story worth reading, especially to anyone who has come into a bit of money lately.

Consider the story of Lou Eisenberg, who became a $5 million lottery winner in 1981, at the age of 53, and who today is 81-years-old and living in a mobile home, his lifestyle funded by a small pension and Social Security. He makes $250 a week.

When he hit the jackpot 30 years ago -- and $5 million was the biggest lottery payout at the time -- Eisenberg briefly became a household name (and the envy of every households as well). At the time he was a humble lightbulb changer, earning $225 a week changing bulbs in a midtown office building. The media loved his rags to riches tale. Chatting with Johnny Carson or Regis Philbin, they called him "Lightbulb Lou," or "Lucky Lou."

College kids are opting to scale back their wardrobes and save their pennies for new gadgets, according to a study in today's WWD.

Students will have spent a projected $13 billion on electronics by the end of this year -- more than twice what they'll likely have spent on clothing and accessories: $5.77 billion.

Being big costs money; it's a simple fact that obesity and being overweight puts a strain both your health and your wallet, which is why this blogger has joined 30 other personal finance bloggers to get fit and share our experience with our readers along the way. The Personal Finance Weight Loss Challenge, which has been organized by PF blogger Baker at Man Vs. Debt will be an exciting contest filled with plenty of posts to help you get in shape with us.

For the next 60 days, I will be joining the Beta team made up of Jessica at Penny Wise Family, Matt at Debt Free Adventure, Miranda at Yielding Wealth and Savings Not Shoes at PennyPence to lose a combined 100 pounds. My personal goal will be to lose 18 pounds, which will bring me within 15 pounds of my lowest adult weight, which I achieved in high school thanks to Richard Simmons and his wonderful Deal-a-Meal program.

I didn't start out with a budget number in mind for my daughter's 3rd birthday party, but in my head, spending any more than $300 seemed too much. In reality, that's hardly a drop in the bucket for what a party could cost, especially in New York. When I had a surprise 40th for my husband a few years ago at a local fencing center, it was $350 just for the activity for 20 people -- we had to bring our own pizza, drinks and cake. A party for 15 kids at our neighborhood Little Gym would have run $475 for 90 minutes, no food included.

To do a budget party, I had to do it at home, since an outdoor location wouldn't be good for our older relatives or our frequent potty-going little ones. Luckily, we live in Brooklyn and have a backyard and fairly spacious apartment. Our only complicating condition was that my husband's side of the family keeps kosher (and we don't, so I had to buy all prepared items), and to further make things difficult, my brother-in-law has a gluten allergy. So while I wanted to try to hit $300, I needed some wiggle room to achieve a Glatt kosher party (meaning, no Hebrew National cocktail franks because they aren't kosher enough).

How did I do? Not quite $300, but not too bad overall. My total: $409 for 50 people -- 16 children under 12 and 34 adults(detailed budget below).

You can save money by keeping large denomination bills in your wallet or purse, according to an upcoming study on the denomination effect.

The study, by The Journal of Consumer Research, found that people were more tight-fisted with their money if it's in a few large-denomination bills, as opposed to many small ones, according to a short story in the New York Times.

This makes sense, when you think about it. I'm less likely to break a $20 bill for a small purchase, such as a soda, than I would be if it were a dollar bill. I think I'm also less likely to even purchase the soda if I had a $1 bill in my pocket, as opposed to change.

The study found that 63% of test subjects chose to buy candy when given four quarters. But the number dropped to 26% who bought candy when given a $1 bill. So the denomination effect even works with small bills.

"People overvalue these large bills," said Joydeep Srivastava, a professor of marketing at the University of Maryland and one of the study's two authors. "It's partly a self-control mechanism -- I want to hold onto it, because if I do break that big denomination, I lose track of my spending."

True. Try carrying around only bills, and not change, for a week and see how much longer your money lasts. The study notes, however, that this effect is stronger in markets like China and India, where cash -- and not credit cards -- is still king.

Ask not what your bank can do for you; ask what your bank can do for your country's sullen consumers.

Next week, when Bank of America Corp. takes over the Upromise credit card from Citigroup Inc., it plans to eliminate a $300 annual limit on cash-back loyalty-rewards bonuses that Citigroup had imposed.

WSJ.com blog The Wallet reports on the Upromise promise. Until now, customers who spent $30,000 a year on the card maxed out their 1% annual cash-back limit. No longer.

Upromise is designed to help parents save for their kids' college. But beyond its educational goals, is the Upromise move an act of patriotism? After all, President Obama is pleading with increasingly nervous (and increasingly unemployed) Americans to please, please part with just a little loose change. The card's cash-back savings can be funneled straight into a Upromise-managed 529.

While spending $30,000 on a Upromise card isn't quite enough to buy a year's tuition at Harvard, it's enough to put you in Benjamins sufficient to acquire the stuff of your dreams (base price, 16GB 3G version). Spend 'em if you got 'em.

Now that Obama is in control of the government, one of the big priorities of animal advocates -- even bigger than getting the Obama family a shelter dog -- is the elimination of the USDA's Wildlife Services Department, which spends $117 million a year in a Sisyphean quest to exterminate predators.

They kill about 1.5 million birds (mainly starlings) and 150,000 animals (mainly coyotes). All of this is in the name of protecting livestock -- or, in the case of the starlings, grain -- and ironically, often grain farmers are growing for birdseed. The beef and sheep producers say they lose $125 million a year to predators and claim the number would be much higher without the federal help.

Six months ago, the country's saving rate was 0.8%, meaning the typical American saved $8 of every $1,000 of after-tax income. Now, it has more than quadrupled, to 3.6%, so we now save $36 of every $1,000. That's still nowhere near the 50% savings rate in China but, according to American economists, we're now saving too much.

"In the long-term, it's best for Americans to save more. But right now, with the economy underwater, it's the worst time for that," economic researcher Rich Yamarone told CNNMoney.com. Saving money isn't usually a problem, except when everyone's doing it all at once, creating a dearth of funds that could be stimulating the economy.

So first, we're spendthrift Americans creating a consumer-based economy propped up by credit cards and real-estate bubbles. Now, we're too stingy and not doing enough shopping to help our country.

I understand the dilemma here, and I do feel a little bad for holding onto my 10-year-old car istead of buying a new, fuel-efficient one, and waiting to shop at Circuit City clearance sales until they drop their prices into the basement. But I'm far from overwhelmed by guilt. My shopping-as-therapy ways helped to shape "Consumer Culture" in America (although luckily, I resisted getting a subprime loan to buy an overpriced house in California) and I, for one, have learned my lesson.

It's best to save for a rainy day, and today it's pouring. It's time for the U.S. to create a new kind of economy, one that's weaned off of credit cards and consumerism. Isn't it time we create more hard goods and services within our own borders that people worldwide will buy, rather than offshore the production elswhere and have them shipped back here as "must have" stuff sold at Wal-Mart? Rather than go off into unsubstantiated economic theories, I'll just keep saving and wait for more economic arrows to point upward. Besides, with California issuing IOUs to taxpayers getting refunds this year, I won't have any money to spend anyway.

Uggs. It's the brand people love to hate. But that's before they try on a pair.

Ever since Uggs, the Australian boot made with Merino sheepskin, became popular with the beautiful people, they've become an easy target for the masses. They're ugly. Yes. They're expensive. Yes. They're too trendy. Well, they were. Hopefully their temporary fling with the feet of starlettes all over Los Angeles and Vale has cooled and they will return to the people who have always known and loved them: The surfers. And all us slobs who like comfort more than the latest "it" shoe.

Growing up in the '70s and '80s on the beaches of Southern California, I didn't have a pair of Uggs. They were surfer wear. And you had to be a cool enough, connected enough, surfer to know a mate in Oz who'd agree to ship you over a pair or two (my brothers wore them, though.) They remained a niche market until sometime in the mid-90s, when Hollywood fashionistas discovered them. It wasn't long before the masses started lining up to buy their own pairs.

Once upon a time, I was the sort of girl who believed in "retail therapy." When I was particularly sad, I would get in my cushy SUV and drive to the mall (I was living in Northern Virginia at the time so my mall of choice was the lux Tysons Corner), and charge $300 or $400 worth of fabulously beautiful clothes.

Times have changed, and not just because I don't drive any more (I rock the bus and bike) and cut up all my credit cards years ago. We're all making our way toward a less-spendy future, one where we need to look elsewhere for our therapy.

Last week, much of the country was snowed in, and Portland, Oregon, where I live, was an unusual participant in the snow follies. While many shops remained open, we just couldn't get to them, and so I was faced with a Christmas where I was largely unable to go shopping.