out of control spending

I can't believe I actually watched Oprah last night.  She is doing a series on Debt Diet.  I should have taken notes, so I am doing this from memory. 

About 70% of Americans live above their means.  Which means that most people can't afford their lifestyle. Are you one of those people?  Is it really worth it to keep up with "The Jones", because if you think about it, they are trying to keep up with you.  Who really wins this game, the banks.

A few words of advice here.   Pay off those credit cards and stop using them.  You should only use a credit card if you can pay the whole amount off at once or if you have an emergency and don't have enough cash (such as getting an unepected car repair bill).  Credit cards are needed to make /airplane/hotel/car rental  (etc.) reservations, but that doesn't mean you should get something you can't afford.

Store credit cards...GET RID OF THEM.   Have you looked the interest rate on those thing?  Even if you use them to buy sale and clearance items, if it takes you a few months to pay that bill, you really aren't saving any money.

Tips to living the frugal way
A wise man once said  "think about how many hours it took you to earn the money to purchase that 'want' item, was it really worth it, if your answer is NO, move on"

The same wise man once said "if you have to think about whether or not you actually want that item, then odds are you don't really want it, move on"

So, in other words actually THINK when you are shopping