Bad Spending Habits You Need To Ditch Right Now
Money makes the world go round, and as much as we want to deny that, it’s true. If we didn’t have money, we wouldn’t be able to buy the things we need like food and medicine. We also wouldn’t be able to have a shelter or be able to go to places we want to. This is why having a job or belonging to a family who’s financially stable enough to sustain you is a privilege in today’s cut-throat society. One minute, you can be comfortably situated in a home, and the next thing you know, you’re on the streets kicked out by your landlord.
When there comes a time when you just can’t make ends meet, you still have a lot of options. If you often find yourself in a situation where you’ve suddenly run out of money to spend on your necessities or rent, then it might be the time to pause and rethink your spending habits. Did you need to buy that designer dress even if it was on sale? Did you need to go out last week to meet two separate groups of friends? After making small personal loans in places like Salt Lake City to get you by for the month’s groceries and rent, assess yourself. You may be guilty of these bad spending habits that are sucking up your money more than you’re willing to admit.
Spending On A Whim
So, you’ve finally received your first payment for the month. You think of all the ways you plan to spend your money from bowling with the gals to buying those sneakers you’ve been eyeing for a while now. By the end of the week, you’re broke once again, and you still haven’t paid your bills.
If this situation looks familiar to you, then you might want to start budgeting your expenses. If you’re not familiar with budgeting, it’s allocating money for different categories in your life that you spend on. These categories may include (but are certainly not limited to), utilities, food, transportation, and leisure. Utilities are the bills you pay, like rent, electricity, water, and even your cellular data bill. Food can include groceries and other food items you spend money on (Yes, boba tea). Transportation includes the money you spend on commuting to work or your gas. While leisure includes all the things, you do that you don’t necessarily need.
Budgeting helps you stay within the limits of your spending so you can make sure that you don’t overspend on something and have to sacrifice another. Budgeting also enables you to keep track of which aspects of your life that you need to cut back spending on.
Retail Therapy
When you’ve had a bad day, you get this mentality that it’s your job to cheer yourself up. However, this isn’t an excuse to spend an obscene amount of money on things you don’t need. Getting your favorite drink or ice cream is acceptable, but going on a full-blown shopping spree when you know you can’t afford it is a recipe for disaster.
If you’re feeling the impulse to spend because of how bad you think, try to do other productive things like taking a walk, calling a friend, doing some cleaning around your place, or taking a nap. Our emotions often get the best of us and our wallets.
Keeping Up With Trends
We often end up spending more than we make trying to keep up with fads and trends, especially in clothing. That ugly lime green dress might be all the rage this month, but do you see yourself wearing it when the trend is done? Don’t think so.
To avoid spending too much on clothing, invest in timeless clothing staples that you know you’ll wear. Investing in quality made clothing can also stretch your buck because having clothes that last will severely cut back your expenses on apparel.
To spend or not to spend? That is the question. Usually, the answer is often not to spend. There are a lot of things we can do without, and adapting this mentality is the first step towards being a mindful consumer.
