Changing a habit is hard. But once you start to change a habit, you may find that you want to change other habits as well. A habit that you want to change can be anything from exercising consistently to eating better or getting up earlier. Uncontrolled spending can also be a habit.
What triggers your spending?
There are many events that can trigger uncontrolled spending: a bad day at work or even a raise can send you to the retailers with the ”I deserve it attitude”. If you can narrow down the actions that will trigger a spending spree they will be easier to stop before they happen. Sometimes we spend in a death by a thousand cuts manner. It is all the little purchases that add up during the month that do us in. We do not pay attention to what we are spending. “Just one more item will not hurt, it is under $10.” Or, “One more latte, it is Monday and I am tired.” The problem is that all the small purchases add up and if they are not planned for they will blow your budget.
Why do you want to change?
Knowing the why of a problem and wanting to change it is the first step to change. What would you do with all the money that goes to pay for your bills and debts if you got to keep it each month? This is the time to get mad at yourself and dream of how life could look if you took control of your habits. Envision the freedom that you could have if you kept your income instead of giving it to the credit card companies. To ensure success, you will want to find someone to hold you accountable for your spending.
The budget is the key to money management
Making a written budget of how you will spend your money before the month begins will take you a long way down the path to success. Place your income at the top of the page and then spend your money on the paper in priority order of your expenses. Food, shelter, utilities and basic transportation should be at the top of this list, not your credit card bills. As the month progresses, you will only spend the amounts that are on this list. If you need to adjust numbers during the month, go ahead … as long as you take money from another category to pay for it! You can’t spend money that you don’t have. Anything that you can save during the month should be used to pay off debt. Remember to give yourself some “blow money” or a “slush fund”, for those small incidental purchases that weren’t in the original budget. Life happens and you need to be prepared to fund it.
Identify your triggers, use an accountability partner, set a budget and you will be pointed in the right direction to start to break your habits of overspending and eliminate your debt. It will take some time, but keep your eye on the prize and you will achieve your dreams.
Tim and Kathryn Gerken are Financial Coaches in Newcastle, WA. They serve their community in the greater Seattle area speaking, teaching workshops and coaching individuals and families with their financial dreams.
Consumerism is a term used to describe the effects of equating personal happiness with purchasing material possessions and 
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Unfortunately the answer is no, it is not easy to get out of debt. It is, however, easier to get out of debt with a plan than to get out of debt without a plan. It probably took you years to get to the point in your personal finances that you are now. You were not paying attention then, but to get out of debt you will need to pay attention to where your money is going and be intentional about how to get to financial wellness.
The economy in the United States is slowly recovering from the economic recession of the past few years. Many people have found themselves in credit card debt with high interest payments.
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