Suggestions please - trying to overcome an addiction

Hey gang, I'm trying to overcome this shopping addiction. So, I was thinking that i should replace a bad habit with a good one. A new *game* so to speak. I just got a promotion and a raise.... so I was thinking the maybe I could become obsessed with saving money... but how? So I'm looking for suggestions. If you got a raise and wanted to stash some cash, how would you do it? savings bonds, savings account, mutual funds, stocks, CDs.... what else... what? Any and all suggestions or ideas are extremely welcome! Saving has NEVER been a forte of mine! I need all the help I can get! Pam

First, congratulations on the promotion and raise!!! How exciting for you. Second, maybe consider putting the cash some place where is not easy to get to it - like your mutual fund. Good luck! Hugs, Tracy

We have to have the money taken from the paycheck before it ever hits us. If I run into a larger sum of cash from a sale/investment then I have to put it in a CD or some other investment or it gets spent. That's just how it goes. I do NOT know why. It's fun to watch money grow but I don't think it will consume your time the way that shopping does and can. It can be invested and you can watch investments but that's not hugely time consuming. Perhaps you can set a goal that goes along with saving and/or investing money. For example, if the money earns $3000.00, then agree to spend X amount of a long weekend or something that you can look forward to as a reward? I don't know. When you get it figured out, please let us know!

I'm definitely one of those people who have to have it taken directly out of my paycheck. You're right, it probably won't consume my time like running around store to store or shopping online does. I'm hoping that my desire and goals to save will keep me from putting the money out though - hoping that every time I think of buying something, I remember my savings and re-evaluate whether or not buying this "thing" is worth the damage it will do to my savings balance. I'm telling myself to look at the bigger picture... a bunch of shirts that I'm going to wear a few times or a new deck or hardwood floors or a swimming pool or a paid off car - a more comfortable life. Or instead of blowing that much money every month on stuff that ends up in a garbage can after a while, spend that much money on a piece of land to retire on. So much to think about. I just know that I have to do the opposite of what I have been doing - which is putting our financial stability in jeapardy. I'm so ashamed of that. I've been so selfish. I'm glad i posted this though. So many great ideas and some lessons learned to help me out with this. Thanks! Pam

Congratulations on your promotion Hubby does most of our savings. He likes to put money in the Roth IRA ( I think that is what it is) When my mom passed I put the money in I Bonds . You should check into what is paying the most interest right now. If it is taken out of your paycheck before you see it you won't miss it as much. Just make sure you don't leave yourself short in case you have an emergency and need to get it right away. Hubby told his/my aunt to get a cd made out to her sister , who is her executor of her will, so she will have the money she will need when the occasion arises because my aunt is leaving everything to her grandaughter and when money is involved not everyone will do the right thing. Good Luck, Sandy

Pam, If your company offers a 401(k) you might want to try that. This way you never see the money and it eliminates any temptation. Take care, Mary

You could set up a stock account with something like Sharebuilder.com where you get money take out and invested on a regular basis. That would be a bit of a risk though. But I'm sure there are some savings plans that you could set up where the money is taken out before you see it and stashed in a side nestegg account. Good luck, Kathy

if it were mee, I would go with a money market account. I am turned off on the stock market. We took a huge hit about four years ago and lost over a hundred thousand dollars in onee quarter. it was in mutual funds. Hubby thought he was smarter than me and listened to our financial advisor who said leave the money alone. i insisted we put some in a money market account. That is all we didn't lose. then as the market got better, we switched it back and lost big time again. Finally, we closed out our stock market accounts and now wwhat little we have left after we lost all that is in a CD. Doesn't earn much interest but at least we aren't losing our initial investment.

a financial advisor told me the first way to save is to make sure the credit cards are paid off, they interest costs big money, so my first step would to be debt free. the second thing I was told to do was told was to have a regular or money market account with a minimum of 3-6 months living expenses in it. the money is accessible with out penalty in the case of a job loss of dire emergency. Next would come a retirement account. the Roth IRA's are good up to a certain income bracket, but if you are over that you may not be able to use it. meeting with a qualified financial advisor who can look at where you are now and evaluate your goals, based on what you want to accomplish and how old you are and how long you have to meet the goals is an excellent start. the diffferent funds and retirement plans are NOT one size fits all. throwing money into mutual funds, stocks etc with out proper research can lose your hard earned money ( just ask DH who invested in a mutual fund a friend had recommended with out proper research or actual professional advice, and it tanked out really bad and we are out the money, our accountant rolled his eyes looking a tthe fund we invested in, it was one if he had talked to me I would have said no, a tech fund when all the .coms were crashing. but the average person really doesnt know where to invest the money so do research. Suze Orman has numerous books about money management out. http://www.amazon.com/Road-Wealth-Comprehensive-Guide-Money/dp/1573223581/sr=8-2/qid=11645 13852/ref=pd_bbs_2/002-0262812-6889653?ie=UTF8&s=books

Willow, Thanks for all the information! Especially the Suze Orman link. One thing i did learn was to never put all your eggs in one basket. So I'm working on that. Here's where we are starting from: - We both fund our retirement accounts - We have enough equity in our home to buy a home to retire in - We have one car payment - We have one credit card - which we need to pay down over the next few months - We have some bonds and other old money items locked away - We have some small stocks So after looking around and reading posts here and at articles on the internet.... it looks like we need to: - Pay down the credit card - Continue to pay down the mortgage - Build a savings reserve that we can get to in case one of us loses our jobs (low risk) - Put a portion into our fidelity investment portfolio (more risk) So I'm feeling more like we have a good starting point now. I do like the idea of meeting with a financial advisor. I've been struggling with what our goals really are in doing this. I know I need to stop the spending. That is first and foremost. Of course financial stability and security is a pleasant perk. But beyond that - I have other questions that I would like to ask an advisor. Like, should we be paying on a piece of land now to build our retirement home on? Is it worth putting money into this house for hardwood floors or an updated kitchen, if we are just going to sell in the next 5-10 years? So much to think about. Some people don't like to discuss this kind of financial stuff - but i think people can learn so much from each other and support in any arena = success. I'm definitely going to order some of the Suze Orman books. The more information and education i have in the stores of my brain the better. After all, how can one be expected to bake a cake if they have never heard of it and don't have any knowlege about the mix or the oven? Thanks again! Thanks to everyone for posting! Pam