Will power and budgetting

Cut your access to the $- if u dont have the $ u cant spend it! Get rid of all store cards/credit cards so u actually have to have the money before u can buy them!

Only take a set amount of cash with you when you go to town and leave all cards at home, that way you can't make impulse purchases.
Make it a challenge within yourself to see how long you can go without buying anything.

My biggest downfall is buying food or drinks when I'm in town, so I need to make an effort to have a snack and drink bottle with me at all times to stop those little purchases

I think the best way to manage your money without having to stress over will power is to allow yourself a certain amount a week as 'sanity' or 'pocket money'.

It is hard though and I can so relate!

I suck at taking $ out and not using my card instead. I know I won't do that so I don't entertain that idea for me..

If your will power sucks. Work out how much you need to pay your bills, groceries and sanity money. Transfer the rest into a seperate account. Ask your bank to remove it from your view on internet banking so you can't see it. Then it becomes more of a pain in the bum to get at but its there if needed.

We do that too :-) I have one account that we pay all of our bills out of and always has a very tempting surplus in it... I used to dip into it all the time (I'm very naughty!!) but I have since destroyed my eftpos cards for that account so I can only remove money by going to the bank which I hate doing so it never happens!!

^^ ditto! I know its only going to cost $13.70 or something but in my head i round it up to $15 just in case haha. I am trying to work out bank accounts - i have to have my main accounts with westpac because i have a loan and thats a rule - but i want to transfer my spending money to an ASB account + do save the change to DS's bank account (which is also an ASB account) - does that sound totally ridiculous? I know the 'done thing' is to do savings to another bank but i'm not sure i can do that plus the save the change thing really appeals

We were always spending ALL of DH's pay each week, now I take $300 / week cash out & we dont use our cards at all, its amazing to see the difference its made in our bank account in the 1 month we've been doing it.

The $300 covers ALL our weekly stuff petrol, groceries, brought lunches etc.... plus anything extra we want - for example its DH's office girls 21st in a couple of weeks so i've been putting $20-$40 a week into his undie drawer because he said he wanted to pay for her to get her gun licence ($120) so I wanted him to feel the budget pinch to be buying presents

Some weeks its a REAL challenge but it'll set us up well for when we go down to 1 income in a few weeks

I know what you mean, we budget well and have a surplus in an account that's meant to put aside for future bills but Im always dipping into it. So I have decided to transfer a small amount of money onto both mine and DH's visa debit cards for spending a week. We each get x amount, and we can do what we want with it, so that if one or the other buys something like lunch or drinks or whatever, the other doesn't need to get annoyed. Then we can only use the other money for bills/budget expenses. It takes a lot of control though as its so easy to see something then transfer money online. I think the getting out cash idea or getting rid of eftpos card is a good idea, as I can transfer money over the phone too if I want something in a shop but with no eftpos card to use I can't do it