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You are not alone, we all have them! Impulsive and unplanned spending plagues most of us and ruins our budget on a monthly basis. And, the advertisements aggravate the situation! There is always the Latest this and the Latest that! In the information age, electronic gadgets, especially Smart phones, tablets, and company are doing the trick.
Quite often you find that you purchased an item you hadn’t budget for! Whatever it is, you get the drift. If you have a budget, you can pinpoint the areas where you are overspending. Now, to achieve those financial goals you must stick to your financial plan, the budget. And, that bad spending habit must be reined in. Besides, it is sabotaging your attempt to save some money and getting you indebted!
In fact, you may find yourself taking just right loans to meet your short term financial needs. Personal loans provide a confidential, convenient, and quick way to meet your short term financial needs. However, it’s good to get a loan only when necessary.
How to rein in your spending and stick to your financial plan
There are a number of ways to control your spending and manage your money.
Don’t carry extra money
When going shopping make sure you only carry the money you require. That is the amount that you have budgeted for that purpose. And, don’t carry the credit cards. That way you will have to work with the resources at hand.
What triggers you to overspending?
You must determine what causes you to overspend. Begin by monitoring the feelings you experience when you overspend on something. In fact, identifying the underlying cause is important in helping you to regain control of your finances. Determine what your trigger is.
See the big picture
There are major benefits to setting financial goals. So, set your financial goals and put them where you can see them often. Look at them several times a day. This will keep your mind focused on the reasons for being financially disciplined, and sticking to the personal financial plan.
Take your time before buying
Before you buy an item, take a break and consider if it’s worth it and necessary. It can be a 24-hour delay or a 30-day pause depending on the cost of the item. In fact, leave and return only if you are sure you need it.
Have a shopping list
This may seem like an obvious thing, but most people never use a shopping list. This is one of the main reasons they overspend! Lack of a shopping list makes it that much easier to exceed your spending limit.
Determine your weakness, avoid them
Knowing what your weakness is empowers you to control yourself and to stay away from it. For example, a visit to the mall always causes you to buy some cosmetics, hand bags, shoes, clothes, etc. If that is the case, stay away from the mall.
Get support
It is a great idea to get others to support you in breaking a weakness. Let your loved one understand your objective and ask them to back you up. Get your family and friends to help.
Take an account of what you have
How many times do you shop only to discover that the items are in the refrigerator?! Noting the things you have ensures that you don’t make such duplicate purchases. This especially applies to groceries. So, before heading to the store, check what is in the refrigerator and pantry.
Reward yourself
One way to reinforce a new habit is to recognize for the progress you are making. So, whenever you avoid overspending on an item like you did before, take a specific percentage of the amount you have saved, say 10%, and put it in a safe or piggy bank. Later, at a time of your choosing, you can spend the reward as you wish.
Allocate money for having fun
This is money you can spend without feeling guilty. So, in your monthly budget, factor in the money for having fun. This is cash you spend as you wish. Mark you, even a small amount of money will do. The key thing is to reinforce the knowledge that you are free to spend on what you want. However, it is more important to manage your money in order to achieve other more important goals.
Conclusion
Impulsive and unplanned spending plagues most of us and ruins our budget on a monthly basis. The good news is that there is time tested ways of getting your act together and managing your finances. However, you need to be patient and disciplined to achieve your objective. You cannot make a drastic change very quickly. As the old saying goes – slow and steady will win the race.
Everything we do is through Google keep. We build a shopping list throughout the week on it. At the end of a week we go shopping. This way there is no creep.
We also report our individual expenses to keep. If you cannot explain a particular expense to your spouse … i take it as something that could have been avoided. Typically In my case it is diet soda 😉
dividendgeek recently posted…Equifax data breach
Hi dividendgeek,
Thanks for sharing your budgeting method. I have to say that I never even heard of Google Keep but it looks like a great way to manage your budget and keep track of every single expense. ‘Creep’ is always factor for many budgets. It’s amazing how just a few, small innocent purchases can throw a weekly/monthly budget off. Not a bad way to manage your spending.
Great tips DH, thanks for sharing them!
Hi MR,
Glad you enjoyed these tips. Do whatever you can do to stick to a spending/budget plan and long term you’ll be that much better off financially. Thank you for commenting.