---
title: How to Stick to a Budget and Spend Less
description: Try these behavioral finance tricks -- use cash, try putting "fun money" in an envelope, and tell a friend -- to control your spending.
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published: '2015-12-24T18:56:32.000Z'
modified: '2015-12-24T18:56:32.000Z'
section: Personal Finance
tags:
  - Ask the Expert
  - Budget
  - saving money
  - spend less
  - Spending
word_count: 181
canonical: https://money.com/stick-to-budget-spend-less/
type: Article
source: structured-blocks
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![paper budget](https://img.money.com/2015/12/151224_pex_budgeting.jpg)

**Q: I need help sticking to a budget. What can I do to get my spending under control?**  
  
**A:** One proven method: Pay in cash. “It hurts more than plastic, and there is a limit to how much is in your wallet,” says Manhattan Beach, Calif., financial planner Jana Davis. One MIT study found that people were willing to pay nearly 65% more for a basketball ticket when using a credit card rather than cash.

To curb frivolous spending, Covington, La., financial planner Lauren G. Lindsay recommends setting aside a weekly amount in an envelope for discretionary “hot button” items like eating out. “When the envelope runs out, you are done,” she says.

Don’t like carrying cash? Psych yourself out. A study published in the *Journal of Consumer Psychology* in 2015 found that people were willing to incur 28% more credit card debt when they recalled two times they indulged in spendthrift behavior, compared with when they recalled times they abstained. So if you find yourself tempted by a splurge, think about a few times you successfully avoided budget busters.

![Spend less graphic](https://img.money.com/2015/12/151230_pex_graphic_resolution_spendless.png)

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