Got in over my head with spending

[ivank]

Debit cards are horrible. I did not realize how bad it was until I went to the back today and my vovo(grandma) who is the manger sat me down and showed me the damage I did from 6/28/10 to 6/29/10.
With a card, I guess it was not apparent to me the amount I am spending, with no tangible cash, I just lost control. In the time period above I went from $878.87 to $310.85.

Spending list:
-$6.51 Play Station Network(movie rental)
-$49.24 travelling to and from Jersey City for 6hr of work
-$126.63 Barnes and Noble(I went there for 1 HK book and walked out with 1 HK raider book, 1 Uboat book, 1 HMS Renown book, and 1 membership card)
-$59.72 Best Buy(went in for a pair of headphones and walked out with NO headphone but 4 Blu Rays)
-$250.06 Amazon(went to get a book about HK 33 Pinguin, saw an interesting book about the Komet, saw another raider book, and so on...)
-$43.98 Eurosport.com (Portugal jersey shorts, to complete my Portugal uniform)
-$42.56 Applebees (I am that nice guy that if a friend asks to cover his part of the bill, I would, and I know this guy with never pay me back )

And the list goes on...

I guess I just wanted to talk to someone who is not pissed at me for this(parents, vovo, friends in Germany and my GF) So now I can not go to Germany, Nederlands, and Sweden this summer, there goes that dream.

And I just wanted to warn you guys about the dangers of the cards.

[CaptainHaplo]

Like everything else in life, you take an experience and learn from it - after going through it. The good thing is, this cost you something you wanted to do, but hopefully it has cost you nothing else - your still in the positive.

Also - count your blessings when it comes to someone willing to sit down with you and go over the thing - teaching you to be wiser down the road!

You have to remember its never a screw up in the end if you learn from it!

[Platapus]

Many of us have had the same failings. The question now is what are you going to do about it? From the tone of your posting, it seems like you recognize the problem and have accepted responsibility for it. That makes you a success.

Oh by the way, there are some debts that are excusable. Books on U-Boats and Raiders are always a good idea.

I am a bookaholic. For me it is used bookstores. I simply can't go into them any more. After years of self-help, I can now walk into a Barns and Noble book store and buy only what I was looking for. But it is tough,

So many books, so little time, so little money. It simply ain't fair.

Burt seriously, it sounds like you recognized the problem and the cause (you) and it sounds like you have a pretty good understanding of how to fix this problem.

That puts you ahead of about 75% of the population and ahead of 100% of Congress.

[Ducimus]

I've used a debit card for years. Never had any problems. The trick is being always concious of how much you can afford to spend.

Add up your total monthy expenses, and subtract that from your monthly income.

Take that number and keep it in your head. Be aware of it.

Then, whenever you go out, save every receipt from every purchase on that card. Put the receipts in your wallet where you'd normally put your money.

Everytime you open your wallet, you see how much you've been spending.

[em2nought]

Originally Posted by ivank

And I just wanted to warn you guys about the dangers of the cards.

Uh, thanks I won't go down any dark alleys where debit cards lurk. lol

[Ducimus]

The one truly sad thing about debit cards, is being good with them doesn't help your credit score. Only real credit cards do.

[mookiemookie]

www.mint.com

A great site to help you budget your spending. It sends you alerts if you go over your pre-determined budget for a category of spending. If you tie it to your online bank account, it helps you categorize your spending and see where you may be overdoing it.

[GoldenRivet]

its very easy to do... several years ago when my wife and i first got married we were very bad about monitoring our spending when it came to debit cards. We didnt budget things we used it for and it is very easy to lose control of it in a hurry.

our total overdraft fees for that year so long ago - im embarrassed to admit - totaled about $2,200... that translates to a little over $180 per month in overdraft fees. Considering that overdraft fees at the time were $20 thats around 9 or 10 overdrafts per month...

quickly realizing that a majority of our troubling transactions were the result of debit card spending we had to reel it in and tone it down.

I mean we were paying for one awesome vacation per year in overdraft fees alone - an entire month of my salary at the time.

needless to say we were living well outside our means, and the debit cards were allowing us to do that.

So...I took both debit cards and hid them in the pages of a book and packed the book away in a box one new years as a resolution of sorts... and we tried to forget of their existence for one year to see what a difference it would make.

Im happy to admit, the first year of the little experiment we didnt have any overdraft fees - i dont know... may have been one or two, but your talking down from $2200 to $40 .

When we moved some time later we agreed that instead of having 2 debit cards... one for her, and another for myself... we would only have 1 debit card, and it would be tucked away for emergency expenses.

it was a learning experience, but since then we have become quite frugal and nothing of the sort has really happened to us since then.

debit cards are very convenient, and sometimes the only suitable way to pay for something. However, as you pointed out there is no tangible cash changing hands so its easy to lose track of it in a hurry. you dont get the sensation of your wallet getting thinner. But there is a great deal of sticker shock when you get your bank statement or you visit an ATM etc and you realize you have spent all or almost all of your money.

[ivank]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

I've used a debit card for years. Never had any problems. The trick is being always concious of how much you can afford to spend.

Add up your total monthy expenses, and subtract that from your monthly income.

Take that number and keep it in your head. Be aware of it.

Then, whenever you go out, save every receipt from every purchase on that card. Put the receipts in your wallet where you'd normally put your money.

Everytime you open your wallet, you see how much you've been spending.

as an 18y/o that lives with parents who pay for my car stuffs, I have no monthly expense other than what I buy. For income, I work at Goldman Sachs, on-call, so I can work 1 day, and then not work for weeks(what is happening now)

During the school year, I saved for this trip and that's it! But as the price of tickets rose, I saw it as not going to happen. So I started spending, and when I over did it, my parents say they think they will pay for my ticket!

[ivank]

Originally Posted by CaptainHaplo

Like everything else in life, you take an experience and learn from it - after going through it. The good thing is, this cost you something you wanted to do, but hopefully it has cost you nothing else - your still in the positive.

Also - count your blessings when it comes to someone willing to sit down with you and go over the thing - teaching you to be wiser down the road!

You have to remember its never a screw up in the end if you learn from it!

I have learned my lesson, depressed, upset, but I will move on.

Yea my vovo is great with telling me I am spending too much or whatever. She looks out for my accounts! Love her

[ivank]

Originally Posted by Platapus

Many of us have had the same failings. The question now is what are you going to do about it? From the tone of your posting, it seems like you recognize the problem and have accepted responsibility for it. That makes you a success.

Oh by the way, there are some debts that are excusable. Books on U-Boats and Raiders are always a good idea.

I am a bookaholic. For me it is used bookstores. I simply can't go into them any more. After years of self-help, I can now walk into a Barns and Noble book store and buy only what I was looking for. But it is tough,

So many books, so little time, so little money. It simply ain't fair.

Burt seriously, it sounds like you recognized the problem and the cause (you) and it sounds like you have a pretty good understanding of how to fix this problem.

That puts you ahead of about 75% of the population and ahead of 100% of Congress.

The raiders are my favourite subjet of history and history is my overall favourite. But after spending SO much on them, I think I will stop for awhile. I might ask for this one book from my parents cause it is like $60.00, but thats it.

I have indeed learned my lesson, I am far ahead of Congress lol.

I know how to fix it, No spending, no trip(GF=), no nothing

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by ivank

as an 18y/o that lives with parents who pay for my car stuffs, I have no monthly expense other than what I buy.

Then create an expense to get into the habit. That expense being a savings account! Trust me, save money when you can, and get used to not having alot to spend willy nilly. Living at home is a PERFECT opportunity to save some money.

Little story. I broke up with my ex about 2 years ago. Had to move back home with the folks to get back on my feet. My monthy expenses went WAY down. So, at 34 years old, i was in a similar situation your in now. I continued to treat my monthy finances as if i was i was in the same situation with my deadbeat ex. (IE, me paying for everything and the ex not pulling her weight). I took that money, and instead put it in savings.

When i moved out of my folks house and got back on my feet, i bought myself a 2003 ford ranger with 53K miles on it in cash, paid for corrective eye surgery in cash, and still have money left in savings for a rainy day.

Save now.

[SteamWake]

Learn to live with the consiquences of your actions and be prepaired to atone for them.

[Ducimus]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

Learn to live with the consiquences of your actions and be prepaired to atone for them.

You forgot your smokey the bear hat.



The guy already knows he F'ed up. Geez. We were all young dumb and full of c... ( ehh. nevermind that last word) at some point in our lives.

[ivank]

Originally Posted by Ducimus

Then create an expense to get into the habit. That expense being a savings account! Trust me, save money when you can, and get used to not having alot to spend willy nilly. Living at home is a PERFECT opportunity to save some money.

Little story. I broke up with my ex about 2 years ago. Had to move back home with the folks to get back on my feet. My monthy expenses went WAY down. So, at 34 years old, i was in a similar situation your in now. I continued to treat my monthy finances as if i was i was in the same situation with my deadbeat ex. (IE, me paying for everything and the ex not pulling her weight). I took that money, and instead put it in savings.

When i moved out of my folks house and got back on my feet, i bought myself a 2003 ford ranger with 53K miles on it in cash, and still had money left in savings for a rainy day.

Save now.

Well, my next pay check will start the "saying spree" if you will.