Using PayPal as a Budgeting Tool

When I first discovered EBay, I was quite skeptical of the place. When I finally tried it out, I instantly became addicted. I was always buying things that I thought I needed at the time, going to the post office, and impatiently awaiting the mailman's arrival with my packages. Soon, this became a rather serious problem, as I simply do not make enough money to throw away. I would try to tell myself I needed to save if I had anything left over after expenses. Or worse, at least try to convince myself not to buy anything on EBay until I had actual necessities covered. But it all failed. I bought more and more items on EBay.

Finally, I needed a PayPal account. I told myself I would not use this account for EBay, but only for things that truly required PayPal. I used PayPal when selling things on EBay so that I could accept payments. I would use PayPal to receive commission on photos and payments on articles. I managed to not use PayPal for EBay for about a year.

Then an idea struck me one day. What if I only allowed myself to use PayPal for EBay and other places that accepted PayPal. If I didn't allow myself to link a credit card to my PayPal account, my spending would be much more limited. This would force me to pay expenses with money earned from my low paying jobs, while extra work I did that went towards my PayPal account could pay for me to have some "fun money". I liked this idea very much and decided to try it out.

I initially bought a lot of jewelry with the money I had saved up in PayPal. Then I went on to look for CDs. But what would happen when the money ran out? This was a bit harder. I would see that I had enough money for something in my bank account, but not in my PayPal account. Yet I forced myself to wait until I had enough in my PayPal account to buy what I wanted if it was not a neccessity.

Of course, I still bought a couple things on EBay and other sites that accept PayPal with either my credit card or by money order. But I was careful to only use other options besides PayPal to purchase something that truly was a necessity.

Just by getting PayPal, I have managed to greatly reduce my spending on EBay. And all those hours watching auctions? No more wasting so much time online for me. I now volunteer at an animal rescue and a marine mammal rehabilitation center in my spare time.

Not only have I reduced my time and spending on EBay, but with PayPal I have also reduced my spending on other sites that accept PayPal. If I can spend my PayPal money instead of putting something on my credit card, I will do that instead.

I learned my lesson. Rather than PayPal being a dangerous tool that would increase my time and spending on EBay and other sites, PayPal proved to be a valuable tool that has helped me save money, keep out of debt, and not waste as much time that could be spent doing something useful.