Muramasa's Late Night Rant: Debt Free and Broke

[Muramasa]

This particular rant is really more directed toward myself. It is one of those crazy messages you might find from the future, warning you about some grave danger that lies ahead. I wish that it was something profound, or legitimately some sort of looming danger that required foreknowledge to avoid. Unfortunately, is a rather simple statement: Stop spending money.

Over the past two weeks, I have spent more money on miscellaneous things than I have three months prior. I can't help it. It's like an itch or an urge. A complusion. An obsession. Some people go wild and drink themselves blind. Others go to casinos and gamble their funds away. I just throw cash at material goods. From analysis of my receipts and recent credit card purchases, most of my fund are going to three things: dining out, video games, and dvds. In the past two weeks I have bought these items:

Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle
Ghostbusters 1 & 2
The Boondocks seasons 1 & 2
Bourne Trilogy
Young Guns
Thunderbolt
Hard Broiled
God of the Gamblers 1 - 4
Lots of fast food items

This spending spree was strangely enough, spurred on by two things, a rekindled fascination of Hong Kong cinema, and the new Ghostbusters game. It happens to me every so often, that I get the urge to throw cash around. Most of the time, I'm able to resist the temptation. But I have moments of weakness. Kinks in the armor so to speak. One kink, is when I'm in a slight emotional downer, I'm more susceptible to these spending splurges. The other weakness, is one that runs in my family, and that's the "on clearance" or "on sale" weakness. It's super effective. It doesn't seem to matter what it is. It could be a coat made of lizard fur, and I'd be willing to consider a purchase if it had a clearance sale tag on it.

The funny thing was, I was actually more responsible with my money when I was horrible in-debt. The act of paying off school and a car loan really kept me on the ball. Perhaps it is a terrible twist of fate that I have received a sort of new found freedom when I finally paid both off, at the cost of a major responsibility.

But, I've come to the conclusion that action must be taken, so I've decided to come up with a few ways to combat this urge.

1) Buy things on sale, but in fewer numbers with greater frequency. Slowly drop that number gradually over a period of time.
2) Eat more frequently. Have more smaller, healthier meals over a period of time.
3) Don't guilt yourself. It does no one any good to punish oneself unnecessarily.
4) When a spending urge does happen, and I cave in, use taser to punish self. Emotional punishment is bad, but there's no problem with corporeal punishment.
5) Learn to steal things. If money begins to be a concern, take it for free, then it comes at no cost. I have been wanting to improve my sleight of hand anyways.
6) Borrow things I want from friends and forget to give it back. If they don't ask for it, they probably didn't want it that much anyways. On that note...
7) Have less friends, unless they have a lot of stuff. This seems pretty self explanatory.
8) Learn alchemy. Turning a toaster into a Tamagachi may be useful on some occasions, and if I say I'm a phD in Alchemy, it may fool people into thinking I have a legitimate degree.

With these changes, financial stability seems just around the corner.

[Kuat]

Ah, disposable income.

I wish I had income to dispose of. Regardless, I like your list, especially #5. I actually use that in conjunction with #2, as smaller meals are easier to steal.

[Muramasa]

If you've bought anything that isn't food, hygiene related, you probably have a disposable income. This includes things like houses and cars.