Anonymous wrote:Stop getting a tax refund. Get the money each month and use it for things you need.

You need a budget - whether you get fancy software or use a piece of paper and a pencil. Just do it.

You need to track all your spending for a couple months.

I don't really believe you buy stuff you only need and that over bought groceries never go to waste. Stop kidding yourself.

You are an asshole. We have a budget. I do track all our spending. I know exactly where we overspend. My question was about developing mental discipline to stop doing so.

And btw, wasted food is very rare around here whether you believe it or not. I have a thing about wasting food and pride myself on using everything. (Not counting kid waste like not eating sandwich crust or leaving an ounce of milk in their cup, I can't control that).

You need to stop shopping for fun. You can't pick up clothes the kids don't need if you don't go near a store or click on a link.

Find other things to do for fun.

Stop getting a tax refund. Get the money each month and use it for things you need.

You need a budget - whether you get fancy software or use a piece of paper and a pencil. Just do it.

You need to track all your spending for a couple months.

I don't really believe you buy stuff you only need and that over bought groceries never go to waste. Stop kidding yourself.

OP here. Yeah, I can't see spending $60 on a budget app when I'm trying to stop spending. Seems kind of counterintuitive. I was resistant to the idea of $15 but $60 is out of the question. I guess I will check out some of the free apps and see what they have to offer.

The sale ended last night at midnight. Sorry if it was missed. That's not the first time it's been on sale on Steam, so keep an eye on it.

I just looked. I didn't see where YNAB is on sale for $15.The page still says $59.

We put together a budget for the year that includes all of our spending and then we don't allow ourselves to exceed it. For example, we budget X for kids activities and camps and when it is gone it is gone.

+1 for YNAB. Creating a budget and recording your purchases is eye-opening. It helps you to set priorities, and to stick to them.

1) When people have a lot of time on hands, they like to shop, eat out, and buy "want" things. If you keep yourself busy and have no time to shop, you save money.

2) Set a goal, $$ you want to achieve at the end of each month, then put the money away or invest in index fund without think about it and do it over again and again. You will be rich when you ready to retire.

I treat every purchase with a credit card as if I were writing a check for it. As soon as I buy something, I transfer the money in my checking to a savings account that is used for the credit card at the end of the month. Our cc bill gets paid in full from the "savings" every month. I have an app for my phone so I can do this really easily.

When we get paid the first thing I do is put a certain amount into a real savings vehicle, not the CC savings account. The real savings vehicle is an account with Fidelity. The next thing I do is pay the bills all at once so Comcast, Pepco, etc get paid. Whatever is left is what we live on.

Tracking spending is really essential. You might think you have a good grasp on where your money is going but you don't really KNOW until you put it all down somewhere (I use a simple Excel spreadsheet). Plus seeing it in black and white is sometimes the impetus you need to make changes.

http://steamcommunity.com/app/227320

YNAB is on sale for $15 right now. That's a winner at that price.

Agree with 12:59 on ING (Now Cap One 360) for targets / etc

We are in a similar place due to underemployment of DH so this is what we've done:

1.) occasional no-spend week or month. Buy only what you really need -- groceries, no Costco stocking up but toilet paper if you run out, gas, etc.

2.) I mentally multiply expenses by 50 (weekly), 12 (monthly) or 250 (workday). So one $3 coffee a day at work is $750 a year. One extra target $10 doodad per week is $500 a year.

3.) I track spending carefully with YNAB. It costs $60 buy you can get a free trial.

4.) we don't go into stores Often and I try to unsubscribe from emails from stores.

5.) DH and I have a small designated amount of money to spend on whatever we want.

6.) targeted savings accounts at ING (now capital one 360) for stuff like furniture. Home stuff and kids lessons/clothes are my weakness as well.

Try using Mint (or another way to track expenses). It's a lot harder to rationalize overspending when you can easily see whether you're on track or not for the month in different budget categories and overall. You also have to budget for major expenses that don't come up very often (set aside X per month for home and car repairs, knowing that you're going to have large infrequent expenses in these areas).

You can find ways to cut spending on kids' clothes, groceries, and extracurriculars. New furniture and storage are wants, not needs.

Your budget and tracking should include long-term goals, like progress paying off cc debt and building emergency savings, retirement, and college savings. Working towards those goals provides motivation to stick to a budget.

I always look at threads about household budgeting and tracking expenses, but honestly I know what we spend on, what we overspend on, and approximately how much we should be spending each month. My problem is (and unfortunately my DH is exactly like me, so we are two peas in an overextended pod) resisting the temptation to spend in the moment and how easily I can suspend disbelief when I decide we need something.

I should note that none of what we buy is frivolous -- I'm not talking about designer handbags or shoes or electronics. I'm talking about buying clothes for the kids, spending too much on groceries (which we do not waste -- we generally all or almost all of what we buy), Amazon Subscribe & Save purchases, Costco, extracurricular activities for the kids, and stuff that comes up that we need like a new piece of furniture or storage/organization solutions for our tiny house (which means IKEA or Target most likely). We are on a really tight budget and money goes fast -- we get a cushion (tax refund or bonus) and then we spend it down really quickly. Basically we have very little disposable income which means we need to be real penny pinchers and neither of us is naturally like that. We are finally almost out of credit card debt.

What I need is mental discipline and I'm not sure there is an app for that. Does anyone have any thoughts or tips for me?