Posted by Has it crossed your mind about trying to kick-start the month the desire to save money? Despite your efforts to make it happen but it did not turn into reality. As time passes, it was too late to realise you have spent your money on things that you wanted but what you need. Sometimes we are not aware of our spending habits where we did not estimate our income, expenses, debt payments and spending. If you want to turn a new leaf to manage your finances, these financial tips will help you maintain your expenditure in the right order.
Wait for a couple weeks before buying non-essential items
The impulse on spending can be exceedingly hard to control especially when you make the purchases through the Internet. A single purchase may seem to be insignificant with just a click. As time passes, you may start to notice the purchases would gradually stack up. Hence you need to put yourself in a position to mark every item you want to purchase through the net and wait two weeks before making the final decision. Mark the items that you want to purchase with a date. Once the two week period is over, you may realise that you do actually need the item or significance of wanting the item diminishes.
One in, one out policy
Our spending habit usually revolves around items that are tied to our interest or hobbies. Enforcing this rule will put you in a situation where each item that you purchase, you will have to remove the previous item that you have owned. For instance, you purchase a pair of shoes and you realise you have a similar of the pair on your shelf. At that point, you would realise that you cannot part away with the previous pair. Which also made you realise how many similar items that you possess and not fully utilised. This would effectively convince yourself that you don’t have to make the same purchase again.
Review if there is any bills or payments that you can spend on instead
One of the best ways to get yourself out of spending addiction is to allocate your money to clear yourself out of debt. Like any person that spends a lot, they are hanging on to their credit card debt. Once you are free from any debts, you will have fewer bills to sort out on the monthly basis. Utilities, insurance and cell phone service are one of the few expenses that do not require you to make minimum payments and interest charges and long-term obligations. Most of all, it helps to improve your credit score especially when you are debt free.
Reminding yourself of the bigger picture
We tend to scoff off small purchases thinking that it wouldn’t make a huge deal. Spending thirty to fifty ringgit per day, you will notice how the amount of money you have used up. You have to constantly remind yourself that each purchase will gradually spiral into a huge sum of money. Imagine spending thirty ringgit per day and multiplied by a week or seven days. That is a huge sum of money which you can utilise to pay down your debts or put into savings.
Related: How To Get Started With Managing Your Money While Unemployed
Assigning a certain amount of fun money during your paycheck
We are easily prone to be blindsided by what we spend with credit cards without thinking about the outcome to your bank account. Start plotting out your budget plan to discipline yourself. At the same time, it is fair to treat yourself with a small indulgence with your hard earn money. Allocate money that you can spend for leisure such as shopping or entertainment. Just be sure you are not overdoing it to the point you would end up abandoning your long-term financial goals in the process.
Utilising personal finance app to track spending
Installing an app on your mobile phone to track your daily expenditure will help curb your spending addiction. To track various purchases, you can sorted out each by category. Apps such as Mint can provide a variety of easy-to-use financial planning and tracking tools. Any debts or bill that you need to clear can be track and automated as well to notify you at any time.