[Bizzymammabee]

A good way to stop or curb the impulse buying I find is when I buy something I leave the tags on...and maybe three days later I take it out and look at it hard and really decide if I need or even like it. That way with the tags on I can return it.

It's amazing how easy it is to spend that money. CC's are bad but they are good as well. I know honestly I will never want to live within my means...if I did that they there would be no house because who has the $350k that I paid for my house.

The best thing honestly is to not carry those cards. I do at times like someone else here said go wandering around and put things in the cart and then just not buy any of it. A good way to not spend is to do something else when your bored than window shop. Also make that list and just get what is on it and don't stop and browse.

I don't regret borrowing from my 401k because what I did saved me money and I paid that off and didn't use my cards again. So for me it was a good thing to do. You have to be disciplined too and not use those cards because then you get double the bills.

I totally agree when you have money it's a good thing to auto designate direct deposit to savings accounts so you don't see that money or are able to spend it. That is a good way to force yourself to save.

If we look at what we really spend on there is so much things we can cut that are luxuries. Don't get me wrong we deserve some play but some things are really not necessary at all like that $5 cup of coffee at Starbucks.

I dont' think that the banking market is in the toilet because of people borrowing off of their houses. That thing is tanking because a lot of shady lenders and brokers helped people that had no business buying a house to buy them. I have heard of brokers that help people to falsify income so they can qualify for that mortgage. They also took advantage of people's wanting desperately to have a home and sold them on the interest only mortgages. The bulk of forclosures are from that...I see a lot of it because my lawfirm deals with a lot of financing issues for big lenders and a good friend of mine works at a bank and we just had a discussion about this same subject.

I do think that the practice of getting them to lower your interest rate and then paying off the smallest card and then moving on up goes well. It does give you that instant gratification that makes you feel good about what your doing.