I've tried a few approaches so far to limit acquisitions. Cold turkey just doesn't work for me. Involving my wife in the process as a gatekeeper was working for a little while, but lately just leads to more fights with the wife and more purchases she doesn't know about.
I think the best approach I have so far is to write down every purchase and keep a running total. Every month I divide that total by the number of months I've been keeping track to figure my monthly average spend. I haven't quite managed to stay within my ideal monthly budget, but I do manage to keep the number reasonable.
Something about having the actual figures staring me in the face makes it easier to say "hrm, maybe I don't need to chase this LE..."
-Charles