As Hurricane Sandy barrels along the East Coast, recovering online shopaholics like myself have something more to worry about than just battening down the hatches.
This is the perfect storm for a relapse.
In less than an hour of home confinement, I've already purchased a flat iron, a spa treatment, and a Groupon for a mani/pedi. Of course, none of these are things I need, and already that immediate rush I get from nailing a great deal has been smothered by the familiar crush of buyer's remorse.
And this is just day one of a four-day monster.
It's time for an intervention, and I'm taking no chances with my finances here. I've downloaded the Self Control app for macs, which is a site virtually guaranteed to keep distracting web browsing at bay.
Download the app, and you can "blacklist" certain sites, which will block access from your IP address for a certain period of time. That means until the timer runs out, you can't so much as look at a site without getting blocked. Restarting your computer won't even work, and you can block sites for up to 24 hours at a time.
The app was created by novelists who needed to find a way to get work down at their computers without getting sucked into the big wide world of the Web. Trust me. It is probably the most frustrating tool ever created, but it actually works.
Give it a try, or hope the power goes out before you go broke.
A few other apps like SelfControl: http://macfreedom.com/, and http://anti-social.cc/. Know of any good ones for PC users out there? Comment below.
See Also: 9 ways I got my finances back on track >
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