What You Will Find on This Site

This website contains HUNDREDS of articles to help you work a 12-Step program of recovery around compulsive spending and debting. Topics range from setting up a spending plan to working the steps to sponsor/sponsee issues to dealing with relationships in recovery … and much more!

Scroll down and pick a category from the Sidebar, go to the list of posts by title, type a topic in the “Search the Site” box, or just scroll down to start reading posts. The articles on this website were written by Susan B., a recovering compulsive spender and debtor. You can read about her recovery journey here.

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Check out the FREE Fearless Budgeting Training Program for Compulsive Spenders

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Get 34 Days of YNAB® for FREE!

YNAB (short for “You Need a Budget”) is the best software for spending plans I’ve found. It’s like a virtual envelope system. Get 34 to evaluate YNAB for free with my affiliate link.

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Recovery Books

The Getting Out from Going Under Daily Reader for Compulsive Debtors and Spenders

The Five Year Recovery Journal

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BLOG POSTS START BELOW ↓

Coronavirus and Compulsive Spenders & Debtors

For more inspiration, listen to the “I Can’t Stop Spending!” Podcast

This is a time of real struggle for everyone, but I think addicts, even those in recovery, are at increased risk. Thankfully, we have an arsenal of tools at our fingertips and a Higher Power who can carry us through, whether speaking to us during prayer and meditation, at meetings, or through the voice of our network, to whom we can gratefully turn for support.

With the frenzy to “stock up,” it’s way too easy to justify compulsive spending and debting right now. Just the click of a button brings us some comfort or, alternatively, seeing that items we need are out of stock with no known return date, we feel that panic of “not enough” and “not safe” rising up, bringing with it the desire to buy something, anything, to make us feel better.

Just last week, an ad for shoes appeared. Now, mind you, I only wear sneakers because of my prehensile toes and arch issues, though I have one pair of “real shoes” for special occasions, which almost never occur. But these were orthotic-friendly and so cute in a world where shoes for people like me are generally mighty ugly.

Credit Alerts and Freezing Your Credit

Someone just used my social security number to get an instant $200 payday loan yesterday. I know this because I got an alert from Experian, one of the three credit reporting agencies. I first called Experian to report the fraud and then called the company where the loan request originated.

It took a few hours to get this sorted out, and, annoyingly, I might have to spend more time filing a police report to prove to the company, Advance America, that I didn’t request this loan because they incredibly allowed instant online approval to someone who had my a social security number, but no other valid contact information! So they’re out $200 if they can’t pull back the funds.

Credit alerts are usually part of a paid plan with the reporting bureaus. However, you can place and remove a freeze on your credit at no charge.

New Kindle/Print Book on Emotional Sobriety

I’ve just published a new book. If you enjoyed the “Getting Out from Going Under Daily Reader for Compulsive Debtors and Spenders,” you will want to check out “The Sum of Our Parts: An art book on emotional sobriety, chronic illness, and the mind-body connection.”*

Kindle and print editions available

In my last post, I explained that I’ve now focused my recovery efforts on creating art in conjunction with writing about my search for emotional sobriety and healing from chronic illness.

In this little book of 56 original inspirational readings and artwork, 
I share my experience, 
strength, and hope (along with more than a bit of my struggle)
 on the topics of emotional sobriety, chronic illness, and healing 
from mind/body syndrome (also known as TMS). 



Reviews for the FREE Fearless Budgeting Training Program!

In case you haven’t checked out the free Fearless Budgeting training program yet, I’m excited to share two of the testimonials that I’ve received. You can find them when you take a look at Course #1: Foundational Course, Creating Your Spending Plan.

(For purposes of this post, I’ve used initials where I thought appropriate.)

Incredible. As a new D.A. member, this course is fundamental!
by F.F.

I feel truly grateful for Susan’s incredible work. I’m a psychotherapist in my 30s, and just a few weeks ago, the reality of my money problems, spending/debting addiction has landed with a huge impact on my sense of self.

I have begun attending DA meetings, and as I prepare to find a sponsor and keep track of my spending for the next 90 days, I found Susan’s course. Truly incredible. What I loved the most was her compassionate voice, inviting me to breathe, pause, and not attempt to “rip the bandaid off” and just push through the course all in one sitting. Thank you Susan for this work. I have the basis for a Spending Plan that I will begin using as a get together a PRG meeting in a few weeks.

Your step-by-step, kind, grounded, layered approach has helped me truly make a STRONG foundation for a spending plan. I have read SO many budgeting and money books in the past. This has stuck with me.

THANK. YOU.

Helpful and Kind – Just what I need
by Krystal T.

One of my favorite things about Susan B is her gentle coaching. This course takes her calming voice and breaks down the spending plan piece by piece, turning it into bite size chunks that are easy to follow and implement. Unlike other financial/budgeting courses, Susan comforts and teaches through encouragement and personal stories rather than shaming the student. I felt relieved when I finished this course, whereas before this course I was a tightly wound ball of anxiety around money. Now, onto the second course!

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This online training program is, and will always be, free! I urge you to check it out or read more about it. And please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.

My 2018 Valentine’s Day Rant

It’s Valentine’s Day, so it’s time for my annual Valentine’s Day rant. I’m rerunning last year’s post, but just want to add a couple of thoughts. I despise this marketing manipulation day for so many reasons, but really hope to convince you, at the least, not to fall for the hype and spend money you may not be able to afford as the Valentine Svengali’s are hoping to persuade you to do.

If you MUST “celebrate,” consider sending a free e-card in lieu of enriching Hallmark or American Greetings, who are part of this $18 billion dollar industry, using a sub-text of guilt to draw you into their web of unnecessary spending.

One of my favorite words is “sheeple.” According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, it means docile, compliant, or easily influenced : people likened to sheep.

I don’t know if it’s “sheeple” complex driving this industry. Or guilt. Or an easy way to use money to show love. But you don’t need a specific day to remember to show those you love how much you care about them.

If you must engage in this nonsense because it matters to that most important person in your life, there are a million ways to express your love without giving in to the pressure to buy candy, jewelry, flowers, or cards … ways that will be far more meaningful and remembered more fondly. Here are a few examples:

The Birth of Fearless Budgeting

Listen to this blog post: “I Can’t Stop Spending!” podcast, Episode 053.

I’ve decided to create a series of spending plan training podcasts because it feels like that is the most important information I can offer you right now. If you want help creating or maintaining a spending plan, this podcast series is for you. Even if you already have a spending plan, the training will be a helpful refresher and will likely provide you a with new perspectives and tips. It’s the exact same process I’ve successfully used with my one-on-one students for seven years. And there’s no charge for this podcast series.

I decided to call my training podcast “Fearless Budgeting.” I wrestled with this name for months. As you may know, I despise the word budget, but I strongly believe in the act of allocating money to categories, which is the definition of budgeting. I’ll go into more detail about spending plans vs. budgets in a later episode. But “Fearless Budgeting” truly encapsulates my overriding approach … to gently take you by the hand and help you overcome your terror around facing the truth of your spending, which is a crucial first step in the process, and to ease you into a practice that will keep you clear around your money and engaged with your spending plan ongoing.

By the end of the series, you will have a spending plan foundation and you will know how to work with your spending plan ongoing. And, you can always arrange a one-on-one session with me if you need additional help. Just go to FearlessBudgeting.com/training for details.

New YNAB Training Video Available – Tracking Cash Spending in YNAB

I just created a new training video to help YNAB users. This is part two about tracking cash in YNAB.

(Sign up here to get 34 days free to test YNAB.)

In this video, I go over how to track spending cash in YNAB as well as how to reconcile the cash account. In part one, I go into depth about receiving cash. In both videos, I demonstrate how to do split transactions as well.

New Blog Post about My Bankruptcy Experience

My blog is now located on the “I Can’t Stop Spending!” website, where I also have a podcast.

You can sign up to get each new blog post by email (the sign-up form is located on the sidebar of the
“I Can’t Stop Spending!” site).

Click here to read the post, “Bankruptcy: Panacea or Placebo?,” or listen to the podcast episode.

Ongoing, I’ll also be posting an inspirational reading from my book, “Getting Out from Going Under Daily Reader for Compulsive Debtors and Spenders.” In this post, it is September 24th: “Time.”

First Spending Plan Training Video Available: Tracking Cash in YNAB

I finally finished my first video to help people with their spending plan! This first video walks you through tracking cash in YNAB. It’s an area that many people find confusing, so I wanted to make a video walking you through the process.

Boy, it was both fun and challenging learning how to animate PowerPoint and getting the video to match the audio. 🙂

It starts off with some discussion about the topic of tracking cash, but you can go right to time stamp 3:13 to see the step-by-step demonstration.

 
I’d love your feedback on this video. Thanks … and I hope you find it helpful.