Shopper's Remorse = Finance Tips

I know there's such a thing as a dumper's remorse, but I guess there's also a thing called shopper's remorse. In my case, I have an online shopping remorse!  Case in point: the four deliveries to our house the other week. Yes, four! In one week!

The part of my brain that is responsible for my capricho has reared its ugly head. The smaller part of my brain that is telling me to save, invest, and live a simpler life is looking at me with pity. But you can't blame me. All of my recent purchases were on sale and my brain tricked me into thinking I couldn't let those "great deals" pass. In the end, I spent more than I saved.

Okay, so you can blame me. Here are the packages that are laughing in my face:

To my credit, one of them is a prize that I won. But it could have easily been another purchase.

I wasn't kidding when I told you the men from LBC already know our house.

Sometimes, I speak without thinking and tell J that I'm out of cash. And this kind of response would leave me feeling guiltier than ever:

Translation: Kung may kailangan ka, kung kulang budget mo, magsabi  ka ha. Para matulungan kita. Tulog na talaga si bossing (Y). Hehe.

And yes, he sometimes calls Y "bossing" for the kicks. Wala lang. Anyway, I digress. I seriously need to act on this problem ASAP. I want to be financially responsible, so I created some self-imposed rules:

1. No impulse buys: When I want to buy something, I should sleep on it first.

2. Limit buying for Y: This is my biggest problem, actually. I'm addicted to baby stuff! From now on, I will only buy what he needs and save the "wants" for occasions.

3. Withdraw entire salary: Alright, this is for all of you who receive salaries via ATM. When you leave some money in the ATM, it makes it really easy for you to spend on something on impulse. Why? If you're in the mall, you can just visit any ATM booth. If you're at home (like me!), there are a lot of options you can use to pay electronically. So I decided to withdraw all my money and divide them into envelopes (the old-fashioned way). This prevents me from online shopping because, after all, going to the bank to deposit is a lot of hassle! Also, I don't like bringing cash with me when I go out because I commute. So far, it works!

4. Don't buy something secretly: I used to keep my spending habit a secret from other people. Because of this, nobody warns me not to buy something useless. From now on, I will tell either my mom or J before I buy something. They are the most practical people I know so chances are, they'll talk me out of it. :D

5. Stop spending on liabilities: I have been reading a lot of Bo Sanchez's finance books lately, and it occurred to me that I can simply decipher whether something I'd like to buy is an asset or a liability. For example, my laptop is an asset because it allows me to earn money. On the other hand, my phone is a liability because I only bought it to jump on the Instagram bandwagon. Also, it depreciates! Tsk2!

Just to be clear, I have no trouble paying for bills, yaya's salary, etc. I don't have debts, either - other than mortgage. The thing is, I don't have problems budgeting my money. In fact, I enjoy budgeting. But when it comes to personal ka-ekekan, I just can't resist! The result is zero savings and investments. Boo!

But it's not too late to change, right?