How do you motivate yourself to save and pay off debt?

[homohabilis117]

Hi all,

So, I'm in quite a bit of credit card debt and have no savings. I make a good salary ($3k per month after taxes) and I have about $1000 after expenses, so it's not as though I'm unable to pay off debt or save. But I just can't motivate myself to. I have a budget all figured out, but in the moment, I just really want that Taco Bell, I really want that pretty journal I don't need, I really want X, Y and Z. I can sit down and think, you know, "I want to save to visit my family in France, I want to save for a car, I want to pay off my debt so I don't have to make these damn payments while I'm (hopefully) pursuing my PhD next year," etc. etc., but it all goes out the window in the moment, when that shiny thing is sitting there.

For those of you who experience the urge to buy but don't act on it--what do you do? How do you manage that? Do you distract yourself, or remind yourself of your goals? Or maybe it's a holistic thing, where I just need to fill my life with more time with friends and activities and such so I'm not sitting on my computer looking at Amazon? Haha. Let me know your tactics!

By the way--I have ADHD. Not sure if that might be a contributing factor!

 

[christlovrrrr]

@homohabilis117 Automatic payments to debt that hit your bank account on pay day, so you never even have access to that “extra” $1000

 

[benny594]

@christlovrrrr This and taking my credit card out of my wallet. I can’t buy Taco Bell unless I have cash in my wallet. For some people physically seeing the cash go down is easier to track than swiping a card.
Assuming you have that extra 1000 a month to work with, do as SolutionLeading stated and have an automatic pull so you never see it. For an added level pull 100 bucks or what ever you’re comfortable with and have that cash as your available spending for the pay period. You may notice a change when you can visually see that amount change daily.

 

[adb5577]

@benny594 In addition to taking the card out the wallet, disconnect it from all mobile payments. No paypal, Apple Pay, saved in chrome etc.

 

[yume16]

@benny594 This is my thing. I love using cash because I can see it disappearing whereas with a card I just swipe. My huge obstacle now is that more & more places are turning into card only payments

 

[resjudicata]

@benny594 I understand and do have automatic payments set up, but if I take out my credit cards from my wallet, won’t I be losing out on the credit card benefits?

 

[benny594]

@resjudicata Maxing credit card benifits is a financial planning strategy for a few steps down the road. Paying off debt and saving up should 100% be prioritized over credit card benefits in my opinion.

I started with the same logic, put everything on the credit card and get them points. Arbitrary example but one credit card I had gave me $50 in gift cards to the store I got it through every-time I spent $2500 on it. $50 sounds great but if you’re over spending $300 a month to get that and not paying off the balance then you aren’t maximizing anything, you’re losing.

I’ve been there, did the same thing. I don’t have the discipline to max the points personally so I don’t recommend it myself. Different things work for different people though. Automatic pulls and cash worked very well and continue to work for me and is therefor the only thing I’ll recommend so that I don’t blow smoke up anyones ass with some bs.

 

[blueyedlion]

@resjudicata Yes, but on balance you aren’t getting any “benefits” if you can’t use your card responsibly. Who cares if you’re getting 2% cash back if you can’t manage your debt?

 

[brandon891]

@homohabilis117 Small goals then larger ones.

When I have $5k in savings, I'll treat myself to sushi. When I get $10k, I'll take a weekend trip. When I get to $20k...

 

[cbeigle]

@brandon891 I have a problem with this.

5k is sushi. 10k should be more sushi and a weekend trip. 20k still includes sushi!

Don't forget the sushi!

 

[piper64]

@cbeigle If you need to save 5k to have sushi are you even living??

 

[cbeigle]

@piper64 Truer words may not have ever been spoken

 

[jerome1120]

@brandon891 Sushi tastes like bloody snot and has a similar texture.

 

[tylerbiblethumper]

@jerome1120 Why do you know what bloody snot tastes like?

 

[gtformula]

@homohabilis117 Have you ever read the table on your credit card statement that tells you how long it will take to pay off your credit card if you pay the minimums and how much interest it will cost you? That's pretty motivating to get that stuff paid off!

Remind yourself that you're paying more for anything you put on a cc and don't pay off in full with the next statement.

And finally, look at every purchase you make as the time you spent to earn that money. For instance, if you make $17/hr and go buy something for $300, you just spent over 17.5 hours working for that particular thing. You need to make decisions based on whether or not something is worth your time.

 

[adb5577]

@gtformula When I think about things in the hours of work it takes to buy it I quickly change my mind.

 

[kellypink]

@homohabilis117 Practice. Keep learning to say no to yourself. You may not succeed at first, but keep working and learning what methods work for telling yourself no versus what don’t. Nowadays, I don’t even want to buy things. I enjoy living a frugal and minimalistic life. It took time to develop this mindset.

 

[joy_m]

@kellypink This. First acknowledge that having a "must buy now" mindset is bad. Then you start by mentally redefining winning. Uou have to look at people who just waste money as negative, not with envy.

Often you can reframe it as what could you buy rather than what you actually buy. IE I have $5000, I could buy that LV purse if I wanted, but naw I'm saving it so I can get more later.

 

[blueyedlion]

@joy_m That was my mindset when I almost bought a new car (that I very much didn’t need) a couple years ago, and what I’ve been telling myself ever since.

I could have bought that new car for $30,000, but since I didn’t, now I could buy a car for $40,000. And since I haven’t, in a few years maybe I could buy a car for $50,000.

 

[kourtnee_love]

@homohabilis117 Debt makes me very uncomfortable. I have the mortgage and a car loan (my last car loan). I’ve been paying the car down aggressively so it will be gone likely this time next year. And I’ve refinanced the mortgage multiple times, dropping the total years each time. I’ve never held a credit card balance. I pay it off at the end of every month. I paid off my student loans during the loan freeze way back in 2020 because I smelled opportunity. It’s not a motivation issue for me. It’s almost like I’m debt phobic.

I don’t want to pay for shit I already I have. I want to save for shit I don’t have yet.