Shopaholic? How to break retail-therapy habit

Q. I'm trying to save money but I'm often tempted to buy stuff I know I don't really need. Any advice on how to break this habit?

A. You're not alone. Thousands of people, and women in particular, find it hard to break the "retail therapy" habit, where they buy things they think they want even though they know these aren't things they need.

Try this strategy the next time you're faced with such a dilemma:

• Ask yourself: Is this purchase necessary? If it's not, rank it — high priority, medium priority, low priority. Keep in mind that it's not okay for everything on your wish list to be a high priority. Your list should split fairly equally between the three categories.
• Now add up the amount of money you would save if you didn't buy everything in the low- and medium-priority categories. Pretty sizable sum, right?
• By adding up these dollars, the potential savings become much more real. I'll bet you found at least $10 a day you could use to free yourself from debt and save for your future.

For more ideas on how to get ahead and stay there, check out my new book, "Pay It Down! From Debt to Wealth on $10 a Day."

Jean Chatzky’s Bottom Line
This week: Why it’s wise to pay bills immediately
When you pay your bills is a defining characteristic as far as personal finances are concerned.

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You'd think that people who pay their bills at the end of the month would be more organized, because they know enough about their cash flow to write all their checks in a single sitting. But that's not the case at all. People who pay their bills as they come in — rather than waiting until the end of the month — are much more in control of their financial situation. Take a look:

The financial benefit People who pay their bills when they arrive typically have less credit-card debt — an average of $3,500, compared to $5,000 for end-of-the-month bill payers. They're also more likely to be saving and investing, and have enough of a stash to weather a financial hardship and save adequately for retirement.

Only on TODAY.MSNBc.com! Financial editor Jean Chatzky answers your questions about personal finance. LAST WEEK: Attention shoppers: Better service on aisle five GO TO ALL MONEY MONDAY COLUMNS

The reason All of this is true despite the fact that people who pay their bills as they come in do not have more money than others. It's not an offshoot of income. It's an offshoot of the fact that they've taken control.

The upshot One of the pleasant repercussions of paying bills as they come in is that you're less likely to "forget" to pay those bills on time. That's something 13 percent of Americans fess up to doing now and then.

Jean Chatzky is the financial editor for “Today,” editor-at-large at “Money” magazine and the author of “Talking Money: Everything You Need to Know About Your Finances and Your Future.” Her latest book, "Pay It Down: From Debt to Wealth on $10 a Day," is now in bookstores. Copyright ©2004. For more information, go to her Web site, www.JeanChatzky.com.

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