shopohol

i have a problem. i buy things, lots of them. mostly clothes and books, some video games. nothing ridiculous. except that i don't necessarily need them.

i recently came into a modest sum of money. i used it to pay off my credit cards, put down the last installment on a trip to ireland (more to come on that later), and buy a car. well, put a healthy down payment on a car. the rest... i spent. a first edition of a book that changed my life, some designer jeans, and yada yada yada.

savings holds no interest for me. i don't necessarily believe in the future, so holding on to money to prepare for a time that doesn't exist, doesn't make sense. not only that, i see credit as a way to bet that the future doesn't exist, a bet that i constantly, painfully slowly, lose.

so after my little shopping spree, i not only have nothing left, i am in debt again. not serious debt, i'll pay it off inside six months; if i can stop spending.

here's my plan:
1. in Chicago i'll only spend money on groceries and live entertainment.
2. on vacation i'll have a strict $50 a day spending limit on usable souvenirs.
3. once bills are paid (including groceries) i'll hand off $100 per pay check to a third party to begin a savings plan.
4. the rest of my money will be put toward the credit card bills until they are 100% paid off.

of course, having spent the last five days on a spending binge, it's not hard to say now that i'll go through with this plan. hopefully i can learn a little discipline and creative living to make sure i stay on target.  i'll report back.

what's your guilty pleasure? do you have any intention of stopping, or do you like it just too much to stop?