Spend Only What You Have

I was talking with young man yesterday who confessed to being terrible with cash. He could control his spending during the week, when he was busy with work, but come the weekend money just flowed through his fingers like water.

My advice to him was simple: don't carry money in your wallet that you can't afford to spend.  This applies to the weekends, evenings out or even taking the kids to the park.

There are two ways to do this. One, set yourself a pay day and withdraw only the cash you need (and can afford).  Two, and this is for if you don't like carrying cash, get a debit card (not a credit card). It functions the same way as a credit card, but the funds you spend are your own, so no debt and no interest. Only keep the amount you can afford to spend in the account linked to the debit card. Either way, once the money is gone, it's gone. No more spending until your next pay day.

It may sound harsh, but it gives you some spending money and forces you to stick to your Spending Plan.