By Casey Ford

Just because you’ve got some extra green in your wallet, doesn’t mean those valuable bills should be spent on just any old thing (even if you think you’d look absolutely adorable in that scarf from Urban Outfitters). Follow these three easy steps to balancing your budget to break those window-shopping blues

1. Stop the Splurge

Save your change! Try making a weekly or monthly budget of how much money you should spend on food, laundry, and your social life. According to Nicky VanValkenburgh, author of Goal Setting: the Magic is in the List, committing to your written agreement will help maintain your limits. “Splurging isn’t always considered to be big purchases. Constantly buying little things here and there is just as dangerous as making one pricey purchase.

2. Think Long Term

“We all have to confess that we’re sometimes victims of careless-spending-syndrome,” adds VanValkenburgh. “We don’t think about how our shopping habits affect us long-term. Things add up faster than we’d like to admit.” Think about it: if you buy four of those fun pretty designed folders at $1.25 each, every quarter, at the end of your four year college career, you would have spent $60 just on folders! That doesn’t count the notebook that matches, at $3.15 each. So let’s add $151.20. That’s $211.20 for notebooks and folders you most likely threw away after 10 weeks! Our advice, opt for the simple $.35 folders and $.99 notebooks, instead.

3. Separate Wants from Needs

Make a list of things you can’t live without, (ie. food, clean laundry, next quarter’s books) and budget your wallet accordingly. Once you know how much you’ll spend on the things you absolutely need (this does not include another OU sweatshirt) you will be able to see how much your pocket can pinch for things you want. “By separating necessity from luxury, you’re able to visually see where your money is going and will be able to go in the future,” says VanValkenburgh. “Not only will you be happier with your bank-account, you’ll be more appreciative of the things you buy.