This blog is about saving money quickly, easily and painlessly. It is about spending your hard earned paycheck intelligently while maintaining your current lifestyle. Penny pinching is actually the wrong name for this website. Penny pinching implies painfully scrimping the bottom of the barrel, scrounging in the couch for spare change, digging in dumpsters for recyclable aluminum cans. Frugality is not about denying yourself the enjoyment of spending money. It's not about endangering your physical health or to save a dime.

Compulsive spending is nothing but a destructive mindset. There is no such thing as "will power". In order to break this bad habit, we need to:

1. Identify our current spending habits and beliefs about money
2. Create new beliefs about money
3. Write a list of spending strategies based on our new belief system
4. Practice

I ask myself a series of questions before I buy. Go through this checklist EVERY TIME you consider making a purchase. At least initially. You will be able to do this by memory after a while. I can walk into any mall in America with a wallet full of cash and not spend a single dime.

1. Can I live without this?

2. Can I wait to buy this? Try waiting 30 days. If you still want it after a month, allow yourself to buy it.

3. Can I buy it cheaper somewhere else? Ebay or Half.com? Comparison shop before you buy on Epinions. Find new ways to save money. Find new places to save money.

4. Is there an cheaper alternative or product I can buy?
Can I buy the generic brand without sacrificing quality?

5. Is this item extremely and ridiculously cheap? Is this my only chance to buy it at this price?

6. Will this save me time and/or energy?

7. Can I MAKE money on this purchase?

8. Am I buying this for an emotional reason? (stress, boredom, to impress others)

stress: Are you buying this to help you feel better temporarily, such as alcohol or gambling? Remember these are only temporary fixes. After a few hours, you will have nothing to show for. (except maybe a hangover)

boredom: Consciously plan your activities ahead of time. One, you won't be bored. Two, you'll be making sure you get the most value out of your money. Why spend $20 a month at the movie theater when you can rent four movies for the same price?

impress others: Know that "things" can't buy lasting happiness. You don't need to live like a hermit, but you don't need to live like a king either. Would you like to be Donald Trump financially? Where will Donald Trump and his money be 100 years from now? 6 feet under and in someone else's bank account. "And all your money, won't another minute buy.
Dust in the wind, All we are is dust in the wind." Kansas

Spend money like you normally do, only make small non-painless changes every day.

What are other questions you could ask to stop impulse spending?
I recommend the book "Penny Pinching: How to Lower Your Everyday Expenses Without Lowering Your Standard of Living". This is the first penny pinching book I ever read.