Lauren Greutman

It’s true, addiction is most often associated with things like substance use or gambling, but it can even extend to things like food, exercise, or spending money. If you’re wondering if spending money is an addiction for you, ask yourself if you have a feeling of excitement when spending money commonly spend more than you can afford shop instead of spend time with people or working feel guilty, ashamed, embarrassed, or confused after shopping or spending hide purchases and receipts or lie about purchases feel lost having no access to your credit cards or checks feeling anxious when you don’t shop for a period of time * have a feeling of excitement when spending money * commonly spend more than you can afford * shop instead of spend time with people or working * feel guilty, ashamed, embarrassed, or confused after shopping or spending * hide purchases and receipts or lie about purchases * feel lost having no access to your credit cards or checks Many people are able to recover from compulsive spending through a supportive program like Debtors Anonymous or a like-minded community like my Crush Your Debt group.

This may happen as you’re forking over cash throughout the month, but it’s worth looking over a few months of bank statements and determining where your money has really been going. If you feel like you’re on a hamster wheel and cannot gain any traction toward your savings or debt payment goals, sometimes flipping your whole budget on its head can be a fresh start. But once you know what you’re spending, and you’re serious about adjusting it to meet your actual budget, stashing the credit cards can be one way of facing facts. If you struggle to stay on track with the budget you’ve created, it’s time to re-think your plan for getting out of debt.

If you don’t have a plan for your money, you won’t be able to make decisions like what vacation can you go on this year, can you send your kids to private school, when will I be able to retire, or should you agree to go out to dinner with friends this weekend. Maybe you or your spouse have a job that varies in income each month, something like sales or food service where your commission or hours are uncertain month to month. Fixed expenses are those with fixed or set amounts each month, so they don’t change month to month. Knowing what you want to achieve with your money whether it’s paying off debt, saving for a vacation, buying an investment property, or planning for retirement gives you something to work toward.

The most important thing when you are trying to budget with no money is to make your budget a reflection of their values. As you have a clear understanding of where your money goes each month, what your monthly bills are, and what your income is, you can begin to make a debt payoff plan. Get creative with making some extra money, and use this to get out of debt fast with no money. To get a jumpstart on getting out of debt fast with no money, I invite you to join my Crush Your Debt Course where I go over step by step everything you need to know about financial freedom and instilling lasting change.