The big harry monster called Stuffitis is coming toward you. You’re running, looking for somewhere to hide. Every step you take, it gets closer. You need some way to kill the beast before it gets the best of you. In the back of your mind, you’ve already made the decision that this isn’t the path you want to take in life. Being caught in the grasp of Stuffitis is a sure-fire way of keeping you from living beneath your means, which is the only way to win with money. The more you want stuff, the more time, energy, and money you will waste in pursuit of stuff. The more you look and admire, the more that superficial want is ingrained in your mind that you need it. Then your mind begins to subconsiously search for ways in which you could make possessing it a reality. This my friends, is the essence of stuffitis.

Like I’ve written before, Stuffitis is a term I learned from listening to Dave Ramsey’s Radio Show. Stuffitis is the condition that we all fall in from time to time, where we lose focus. We start paying more attention to material things that we would like to have or are working towards, than our financial goals and the sacrifices we must make to achieve them. So the question is, How do we avoid Stuffitis? Read along as we look at a few tips on how to stay on the right track to living beneath your means and ultimately, winning with money!

1. Don’t look at Catalogs - One of my weaknesses, is clothes. I used to constantly get clothing catalogs in the mail from the likes of Eddie Bauer, LL Bean, Land’s End, etc. I didn’t just flip through them. I usually always found something that I had to have. Once I decided that I was going to be a winner, I stopped ordering clothes through the mail. When a new catalog came, rather than tempting myself with it, I trashed it. Eventually, they realized I wasn’t ordering anything, so they stopped sending them.

2. Avoid Unnecessary Trips to Wal-Mart/Mall - I don’t know about you, but I can hardly go in a large retail chain like Wal-Mart without spending $100. I mean, if I go in there to pick up a few things, I end up picking up a lot of things. So I try now to limit the trips I make. When I do go, I go with a list which I decide before hand to stick to it like glue!

3. Definitely, Don’t Look at New Cars - At all costs, avoid the urge to “look” at new cars. This is something I used to do on a regular basis. What ended up happening, was I realized all I was doing was selling myself on what I would get next, once I got out of the upside down scenario I was in on the current one. This is a bad cycle to get stuck on.

4. Find Enjoyment in the Process of Being a Penny Pincher - This is probably one of the most important things you can do. Attitude determines so much about the outcomes we have in our life. Making good, sound choices, and keeping a good attitude can never be over-estimated. Being a cheapskate can actually be fun and enjoyable. Finding ways of getting true bargin prices on things that everyone has to have, gives you the feeling that you’ve somehow outsmarted the system……and in many ways, you have. Enjoy the process!

Filed under: Stuffitis