Saving vs. Spending

A few years ago, any time I made a dollar, I had to spend it. I spent the entire summer lifeguarding, saving up thousands of dollars only to spend ALL the money I made within 2 months. I quickly learned this is not the way to be finacially stable and knew something needed to be done about my spending habits. 

I changed my spending habits, but it was not easy. I started out small, whenever I wanted to buy something, I asked myself if I really needed it (in most cases I just NEEDED those new Lilly Pulitzer shorts) and then I waited a week or 2 before buying whatever it is I wanted. After a little while of doing this, and still running low on funds, I moved to the next stop. To just quit, cold turkey and stop spending any and all money I made. 

I did not allow myself to spend anything for a few months and saved up all the money I was making. Then I decided to make a few rules for myself. These rules include:

• For every $1000 dollars you make you can spend $100
• You can spend that $100 every 2 weekends, other than that, everything goes into a savings account
• You don't need to go out to eat every weekend with friends, invite them over and make something out of what you have at home
• Be smart about what you spend your money on, a gym membership is good, a membership that delivers a pair of shoes to your door every month is not