'Obsessive Consumption' chronicles an author's spending

Kate Bingaman-Burt's new book may offer just the solution to lowering credit card debt -- draw a picture of almost every purchase you make.

Bingaman-Burt doesn't draw a picture of everything she buys, but she chronicles at least one thing every day, from magazines and candy to books and pizza, by drawing the item and posting them online on her blog, and now in a book, "Obsessive Consumption: What Did You Buy Today?" that was released in April.

Imagine if credit card companies did this on the monthly statements they send: Adding a photo or drawing of the purchases that you're now being asked to pay for. Credit card use would drop, I bet, if consumers had something to remind them of what they bought.

"They take on more meaning to me because I remember the experiences from buying these things," Bingaman-Burt, 32, a professor of graphic design in Portland, told WalletPop in a telephone interview.