Impulse Buyers: How to Control Your Out-of-Pocket (and Spur-of-the-Moment) Purchases

Many people who had credit cards in the 80’s and 90’s put themselves into some bad spending habits that affect them even today. Compulsive purchasing is a very hard thing to avoid when you have credit cards and high limits. Many consider themselves in “credit rehab” once they can no longer get credit cards but are dying to use the cards.

Thanks to the prepaid debit cards you can get back to using a card to shop but your limit is based on how much money you have, so you won’t find yourself back in debt. You can restore your credit with one of these cards too so it’s a win win!

You should take steps to assure you don’t find yourself back in the same position as before and the prepaid credit card helps you do this by reprogramming your brain’s reactions to shopping. Eventually you can repair your credit and learn to responsibly use a credit card again. It’s not a sin to use a credit card, but if your first round put you 10 thousand dollars or more in debt you will need to retrain your spending habits so you don’t end up in the same boat or possibly even more in debt!

If you’re a compulsive spender, and you are knee deep in debt you should take the first step, and I know it’s a hard one, but you should cancel all of your credit card accounts but one. I say but one because it’s good to have one for emergencies but never use it for anything else! It will also help you to learn discipline. Using a credit card can actually help you to repair your credit rating but you need to be careful.

With a prepaid debit card you don’t have to worry about losing control, when you run out of funds the card stops working. This will help you to realize where your “limits” are. The problem with credit cards are the limits are pretty high and the more you use them the more the company will raise your limits which don’t help you stay out of debt! It feels like free money but it truly isn’t. It is more expensive than paying cash- much more. With the prepaid card you get the sensation of a credit card without the credit entrapment!

Most people can’t just quit using the card cold turkey, you become accustomed to using the card online, and in stores and get out of the habit of carrying cash. It is not safe anyway to carry cash in this day and age, so using a prepaid credit card kills two birds with one stone. First it secures your money, if you lose the card your money is still safe- try losing a 20.00 bill and getting it back from uncle Sam! Secondly you can still shop online and in stores like your used to but the card has a built in discipline- it has a limit based on how much money you have NOW.