I received the following comment today from a reader about my earlier post Simple Solutions to Staying Out of Debt:

“All good advice - sadly, it is harder than it sounds. But then again, the more you make the more you can spend, so figuring out how to live within your means is a lesson we should all learn at an early age!”

Yes, it is harder than it sounds; almost everything is. But what it all boils down to is common sense, self-discipline and keeping your priorities in mind. It is true that it would be ideal to learn such lessons at an early age, but there is no reason why an adult can’t learn to control his spending and live within his means if he truly wants to.

Don’t get me wrong. I am human and I know how hard it can be to resist spending on things you want. For example, here is just a snippet of some of the things I have been coveting for a long time - some for years.

• A laptop computer
• My favorite TV shows on DVD (Friends, X-Files and many more)
• Subscription to cable (which we haven’t had since 2001)
• A cushy armchair for reading in my bedroom
• The complete British and French editions of the Harry Potter books (I collect foreign editions of Harry Potter books)

These are just a few of the things that cross my mind at the moment, but I know there are more. Over the years, I have been tempted more than once to buy some or all of these things, but I know the danger of giving in to the urge to splurge, because spending or getting what you want is addictive. Oftentimes, when you get one thing, you want or need to get more things to go with it.

I know it’s annoying to hear these words because they’re so “self-help-ish” (I myself can’t stand self-helpers and trite inspirational “don’t underestimate the power of the mind” stuff), but -

The tools for fighting the urge to spend are:

• Recognizing your priorities
• Rational thinking (not rationalizing)
• Self-discipline/self-control
• Will power
• Rewarding yourself

Recognizing Your Priorities

For most of us, our main goal is simply to “save money” or “save as much money as possible,” and that works well enough. But maybe for some of us, that goal simply isn’t enough. If you have a strong penchant for spending, you may need more clearcut reasons than “to save money” in order to curb your spending. So you will need to contemplate the following question.

Why do you want or need to save money?

Is it …

• To save for a down payment on a house of your own?
• To save for a replacement car?
• To save for marriage and a family?
• To save for a personal or family emergency?
• To stay out of debt?
• To get out of debt?
• To achieve financial freedom?
• To make sure your loved ones are provided for?
• To make sure you have enough to live on should you lose your job?
• To be able to retire when you want or need to?
• To make sure you have enough to last through your retirement?

Knowing and reminding yourself of your priorities at all times will help make achieving your goals easier.

Rational Thinking

Rational thought is necessary in order to succeed at anything including spending and saving money. When tempted to spend on something you don’t need or can’t really afford -

Try to look at the item in question with objectivity (without emotion) and ask yourself the following questions (The “it” in the following questions can apply to any kind of expenditure. Buying a tangible item, a service, eating out, etc.):

• Do you really need it?
• If yes, why do you need it?
• Are your reasons for needing it valid?
• Can you really afford it?
• What do you already have that can be used instead?
• What will its value be 6 months down the road? 1 year? 5 years?
• If it is a tangible item will you still be using it?
• If it is an intangible or transient item, is it really worth spending money on it that you would otherwise never see again?

Also consider:

• The potential value of the money saved from not spending it and saving or investing it. Use the savings calculator on Prune Your Spending and Watch the Savings Grow to see how much a little money saved over time can become.
• If you really think you have enough money saved for your future or financial goals.

Self-Discipline/Self-Control

No one likes hearing about discipline. It implies strictness, lack of freedom, and unpleasant tasks. But without self-discipline, one can never achieve success or financial freedom. So when confronted with a tempting expenditure:

• Plan A: Walk Away
  The best way to exercise your self-discipline when confronted with temptation is to simply walk away - or close the browser window (and clear your browsing history and cache to make it harder to accidentally happen on it again.)
• Plan B: If you can’t walk away, then wait.
  If you have a hard time walking away from the temptation, then at least wait. Convince yourself that you are not flat-out denying yourself what you want, but rather waiting for a sale or a price reduction. You will often find that by the time the price has decreased, so has your desire for the item.

  If it turns out you do still want the item, at least you will be spending less on it. Also, by delaying your expenditure, you can earn a little more interest on the money to be spent.

Will Power

You will find that as you practice self-discipline, your will power will grow. There will come a time when you can see something you really like and simply be able to admire it and move on without a struggle.

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Welcome to the 3rd edition of the Finance Fiesta. I’ve always enjoyed proverbs, and since Spanish is one of my favorite languages, our theme for this week’s fiesta is Spanish Money Proverbs. The following proverbs all come from A Polyglot of Foreign Proverbs for anyone who wants to know. Hope you enjoy them.

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Apologies for not posting anything of substance yesterday or today, but due to feeling a little under the weather these few days, I thought I would post a summary of recommended reading for those of you who are new to this blog, and a few news items from the personal finance blogosphere.

From Our Fourpence Worth

• Father’s Day
  If you’re still looking for a Father’s Day present, many of our ideas from Frugal but Thoughtful Mother’s Day Gift Suggestions could also apply to fathers and father-figures in your life.
• Tax Rebate
  If you are truly interested in helping the US economy, check out Don’t Spend that Tax Rebate Just Yet for a few suggestions on how to and how not to spend your tax rebate based on an article by Liz Pulliam Weston of MSN Money.
• Motivating Children to Practice Music
  Take advantage of summer vacation to help your kids get ahead on their music practice and get the most out of your music lesson fees with some advice by Madoline, who majored in music and has had experience in teaching children’s piano lessons.
  • Motivating Children to Practice Music: Introduction
  • Part 2: Playing the Piano is a Privilege (Not a Chore)
  • Part 3: Playing Slower for Faster Results
  • Part 4: Divide and Conquer

  (If you like the image to the right, which is an original illustration by my sister Madoline, check out our CafePress store Mozartini for gifts and collectibles featuring this image and other artwork by the same hand.)

• Editor’s Picks
  We’re starting to get the hang of blogging (which was completely new to us when we started this blog in February), and have produced a few Editor’s Picks in recent blog carnivals:
  • The Frugal Literate’s Guide to Affordable Reading
  • Frugal but Thoughtful Mother’s Day Gift Suggestions
  • My Favorite Money and Time Saving Websites
  • Guide to Safe and Smart Traveling with Pets
  • Lottery Tickets: Worthy Investment or Waste of Money?
  • Simple Solutions to Staying Out of Debt

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For the lucky few who have extra leisure time this summer, I thought I’d put together some suggestions for productive and fun activities that will help enhance your personal, academic and/or professional life. Some of these suggestions are addressed as if to young people (students, adolescents, etc.) but can also apply to grown-ups.

My suggestions are divided into the following subsections:

• Summer Hobbies - activities with lasting benefits and meaning
  
• Summer Studies - develop skills that will be useful in life
  
• Summer To-Do’s - a few ways to get your life or home in order
  
• Summer Fitness - ways to keep cool and stay fit
  
• Summer Pet Bonding - make your pet happy and you healthy

Summer Hobbies

Here are some ideas for catching up on tasks that may have been neglected during the year.

• Write in your journal
  Write about your past year, what’s on your mind, who and what you like and dislike, your daydreams, anything. In future years you will be glad you did it and also amused by your younger self. You think you will always remember what happened when, but as time goes by, memories do fade and become forgotten. (Trust me, I’m speaking from experience and I’m not yet 30 and have a memory better than most.)
• Make a family video
  Go around the house and take a video of your family going about its regular business. You will be glad for the memories one day.
• Scrapbook
  Organize family photos, report cards, birthday cards, artwork, concert programs and other keepsakes from the past year into a scrapbook.
• Reading
  Reading (even fun fiction) can help improve your mind, vocabulary, grammar and writing skills. If you go to the library, you can read in an air-conditioned environment without having to pay for the air-conditioning or the books.

Summer Studies

Yes, summer should be fun, but there’s no reason it can’t be both fun and productive.

• Learn a new language
  The benefits of learning languages are endless. Learning a new language can help you to:
  • Get ahead in your career
  • Make new friends from different parts of the world. When you show an interest in someone’s language or culture, they are often appreciative and take an interest in you in return.
  • Improve your English (or first language)
• Learn to play a musical instrument
  Music enhances the mind in many ways. Studies have shown that children who study music at an early age do better in school than those who don’t. Aside from that, it is also just plain fun.
• Learn to sew
  Sewing is a very useful skill to have regardless of your gender. You can learn to mend clothes, make your own clothes and other things for your house, which can save you a lot of money. Older and more skilled children can even make their own clothes for the coming school year. Check out one of our earlier articles for more info: Save Money by Sewing Your Own Clothes.
• Take a computer class
  Learn to type properly, use a spreadsheet or database, design websites, make presentations, etc. Most jobs these days involve computer use, so knowing as much as you can about computers might help you get a higher salary.

Summer To-Do’s

A few suggestions for improving life at home and getting ahead on the coming year.

• Get a head start on your Christmas shopping
  This could save you time and money because you can shop at your leisure and take advantage of summer sales. Leaving your shopping to the last minute usually costs more because you are up against a deadline and usually have fewer options.
• Sort through your stuff
  Go through your clothes and things and prune out those you no longer want or need. You could donate the things you no longer need or hold a garage or yard sale and make some money to put into your college or retirement savings.
• Re-arrange your room or home
  Re-arranging your room or home can have a positive impact on your life. A change can be uplifting and produce an overall feeling of well-being and accomplishment, renew your energy and increase productivity.
• Clean out your computer
  Ideally you would do this several times a year, but if you use the internet and download a lot of things, it’s a good idea to clean out your computer on a regular basis. If there are programs you don’t use, uninstall them. If there are files that you no longer need, delete them. Clean your registry if you’ve had the computer for a while. Keeping your hard drive from getting too full will extend its life.

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Tell a friend

Hey everyone, sorry for the recent inconsistent posting. The past month as been really busy for me what with having a house guest (a cousin visiting us from Taiwan for 3 months), a trip to Disneyland (with 2 feisty dogs) the week before last and a trip to Las Vegas last week (with one feisty dog), but I am back and ready to get back to some serious blogging and carnival submissions.

Anyways, here are some great posts by fellow financial bloggers from recent weeks:

PF Bloggers

• Living Almost Large gives us an amusing list of ways in which people justify purchases.
• Seb at Pinching Copper gives his opinion that the penny is worthless. Would you pick up a penny from the sidewalk?
• Kevin from No Debt Plan achieved his goal of going the entire month of May without the air conditioner. Good for you guys!
• Jonathan at Master Your Card gives us 7 Zany Ways to Stop Overspending.
• Ginger from Girls Just Wanna Have Funds gave us Things That Piss Me Off: Food stamp recipients pinched by high food prices that has stirred up a bit of controversy.
• And for a bit of fun, check out Future Millionaire’s (Start of Work Week) Money Funny - Cost of Pop Culture Icons Today about the Brady Bunch, which I am only a little embarrassed to admit was one of my favorite shows at one time.

Elesewhere in the Financial Blogosphere

• I really appreciated Get Rich Slowly’s Closing the Gap Between Dreams and Reality. It has inspired me to get proactive about my financial goals.
• Find out how No Credit Needed will save/make $20,000 by giving up his soda habit!
• Something that goes nicely in hand with my recent Vacation Preparation Checklist is a post from Gather Little By Little about Low Cost Summer Family Vacation ideas with money saving tips.
• Frugal Dad gives a nice Used Car Buying Guide for Teenagers for parents, but it has some useful tips for us grown-ups too.
• We’ve recently begun thinking about starting some investments, so I was really glad to come across The Simple Dollar’s warning about how The Methods You Use to Deal with Ordinary Life Will Fail You As an Investor.
• I was amused by Spam Sales on the Rise, Common Sense at an All-Time Low. I thought it was funny because I recently bought a can of Spam, not as a substitute for real, nutritious food (well, OK it did end up substituting for real food for a couple of meals), but for my cousin to try because they don’t have Spam in Taiwan. It was probably the first can of Spam I have ever purchased. (I grew up in Hawaii where they have something called a “Spam Musubi” which is a slice of pan-fried spam layered over a block of rice and all wrapped in seaweed. YUMMY!)

New Carnival in Town

Oh, and one last bit of news. Jonathan from Master Your Card has started a new blog carnival called the Finance Fiesta which runs weekly on Thursday starting June 5, 2008. If you have a personal finance related blog, be sure to submit your best article!

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The other day I posted a comment about how my sister and I share an AMEX Cash Back credit card on Kevin’s post $327 in AMEX Cash Back Thus Far at No Debt Plan and he emailed me to ask out of curiosity why I share an account with my sister because it sounds so risky. What if one of us decided to go on a shopping spree and screwed things up for the other person?

I emailed him back explaining our logic, and while it may be unconventional, for us it is a convention we have practiced with success for many years. Ever since our high school days when our parents would give each of us pocket money for lunch, the bus, pay phones, etc. we have always regarded our money as literally “our money.” When one of us didn’t have any cash and wanted to buy a drink or snack at school, we would just ask the other person for some. And to the shock of many of our friends, we would just give each other the money. We never had a distinction of “my money” and “your money”.

Perhaps this had to do with our always having been somewhat unconventional people, even as kids. While our friends went to the mall, movies or shopping, we preferred to go to the library, karate class, or stay at home and read or play with our pets (we had dogs, cats, 20-30 rabbits, guinea pigs, birds, fish, mice, etc.). So for us, money was never really a means for pleasure but living - taking the bus home from school, buying lunch or an occasional snack or buying pet supplies. Because we didn’t habitually spend money, our parents didn’t put us on allowances and would just give us money when we needed it. (This could explain why we still live on a No-Budget System.)

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