Friends, hello everyone! Julia Kel is in touch. Are your finances always under control? Often people spend their entire salary on various nonsense and live until the end of the month in super-economy mode. This is exactly the problem we will solve today. In this article we will talk about how to stop wasting money. You will learn the main rules of saving.
Reading the article will help you from now on make only necessary purchases with the greatest possible benefit. And you will save the remaining funds for something more important.
FULL LIST OF BAD HABITS
Set a savings goal
Regardless of what you're saving money for, set it as a clear and measurable goal. For example, buying an apartment, a car or going on vacation. Having a firm idea of where the money is being saved allows each person to work on the task more focused and efficiently.
Once you determine your goal, create a plan (personal map) that will help you get to the finish line. This “route” determines how much money you should save each month, taking into account your income and basic expenses. Planning will protect you from overspending.
Who can call themselves a shopaholic?
If we:
- we go shopping without the goal of finding and buying a specific item;
- We are not looking for something specific, but reviewing the entire assortment;
- tend to make spontaneous purchases;
- we constantly discuss the purchased product;
- We spend too much time looking at fashion magazines;
- we experience apathy if we don’t visit the shopping center regularly,
This means that we have become psychologically dependent and we can be called shopaholics with all the ensuing consequences.
Namely:
- our finances will always be in a deplorable state: not only will we not have any savings, but we can easily get stuck in debt;
- for family people, shopaholism of one of the spouses threatens serious conflicts;
- In the absence of money or the inability to shop, a shopaholic almost experiences withdrawal symptoms, becomes depressed, and may develop a feeling of inferiority.
To put your financial affairs in order and get rid of the habit of spending a lot, you need to understand the reasons.
Determine your budget
Expenses should not exceed income. So know how much you earn and spend. Keep track of your purchases and make daily entries in a spreadsheet. Excel or special mobile applications are suitable for this. Over time, you will see how your funds are spent every day, week, month and year.
A budget will help you analyze your personal financial situation and pinpoint the holes into which money is flowing.
Maintain discipline. Before every purchase, think about how necessary it is now and whether it will be relevant in a week. This technique will remove the most obvious financial “mistakes”.
How to stop wasting money on nonsense
Here we come to the most important thing. What if you don’t know where the funds went? There are no new clothes or food to eat until the next paycheck at home, but there is no means of further subsistence. A few simple rules will help you spend money correctly and plan your budget:
- Get a notebook or app where you record ALL your expenses. We recommend dividing payments into sections:
- necessity - utilities, payment for communications, loans and taxes;
- food;
- hygiene products;
- beauty salons - hairdresser, manicure, pedicure, etc.
- cigarettes;
- household chemicals;
- clothing and shoes;
- car expenses - gasoline, washing, repairs;
- medicines;
- house – any construction and repair work;
- entertainment – cinema, amusement parks;
- holidays – personal and general, plus money for gifts;
- unnecessary expenses.
- After the first month, review your lists and move what you might not buy into the last column. These could be “harmful” foods (for example, soda, chips, crackers) or the fifth lipstick of the same color bought on sale. You may see that it is worth changing your Internet tariff or connecting some options to save on cellular communications. Or you realize that sometimes you can wash your favorite car yourself.
- After some more time, try to move the “unnecessary expenses” column to the “savings” item. Every time you want to buy something stupid, look at its cost and set aside that part of the money. Most likely, by the end of the second month you will have accumulated a considerable amount of money that you can spend on something really important, for example, yourself.
This is interesting
According to social surveys, the majority of Russians spend money every day on buying a small bottle of water.
And our last piece of advice – if you really want to, then you can. You shouldn’t infringe on yourself in everything, otherwise one version of neurosis will turn into another. Learn to manage your money and not waste it, otherwise the lack of it will control you.
First balance - then expenses
Simply put, pay your basic bills before you go to the party. Without knowing the personal or family financial situation, a person is unable to spend money responsibly.
It may seem that people always have a rough idea of what their financial situation is. But that's not true. A person recognizes this when there is a clear picture and a personal or family budget. Thus, expenses subconsciously become deliberate.
To stop wasting money, don’t forget about bills and obligations.
Let's look at the root: why do we spend so much?
Experts say that inability to handle money is often associated with psychological problems. Either truly highly spiritual people or ordinary hypocrites can say that money doesn’t mean anything. Others will agree that the financial component of life is very, very significant. No matter how banal it may sound, money is the key to stability and personal comfort. Hence the numerous neuroses associated with them.
They occur in people of any income and are divided into:
- Stinginess - a person sees money as the basis of his security, which is why he is afraid to spend it.
- Greed - life turns into a continuous process of earning money.
- Wastefulness gives the illusion of “fullness” of being.
- Debts - some creditors are replaced by others.
Each of these neuroses is only a surrogate substitute for what a person really lacks. I propose to focus on the last two points. Most often, they are inextricably linked and are a consequence of the same reasons.
Photo from the site z-em.ru
Buying a new thing is a dose of endorphins. A depressed and upset person needs more happiness hormones, and accordingly he begins to buy more. At this moment, he does not think about the consequences, but tries to forget: money is spent uncontrollably, irrationally. Why is this path dangerous? Firstly, because not a single new thing will solve the existing problems, and within an hour or two you will mentally return to them. Secondly, the situation will worsen as people are prone to self-flagellation and feel guilty for wasting money.
Wastefulness inevitably leads to debt. Their presence not only puts significant pressure on the psyche, but also automatically blocks access to a comfortable existence. You have to work not to pamper yourself and your loved ones, but to try to pay back. There is a possibility of finding yourself in a psychological trap, from which it is quite difficult to get out of it on your own. The best solution would be to try to deal with that part of real life that leads you to a state of despondency.
Photo from the site z-em.ru
Eat at home
In the refrigerator and in the nearest supermarket there is food that is healthy, satisfying and several times cheaper than dishes from restaurants and cafes. Moreover, before heading to the grocery store, check the refrigerator and kitchen shelves again - there are probably still enough supplies there. Eat before going to the store. Being hungry, we buy a lot of extra things.
Follow a simple rule: you need to go grocery shopping when there is no food in the house. This helps reduce the amount you spend on food.
Emotional impulse
As social creatures, people need many things: to be healthy, happy, loved and accepted - sometimes more than everyone else. Advertisers take advantage of this latest desire of people - the desire to inspire admiration in others, for example, by furnishing the most beautiful home.
Sometimes they appeal to the feeling of fear by supplying goods and services that can protect a home or car from an unpleasant incident. Marketers study consumer lifestyles and public opinion to pull psychological levers. Resisting such subtle pressure can be extremely difficult.
Opt out of catalogs and email newsletters
Retail chains are trying to attract attention through advertising catalogs and mailings. They want you to open the booklet, and some new promotion will convince you to buy. Just don't take this correspondence.
If you receive an email newsletter, please unsubscribe from it. The link for this is provided in small print at the bottom of the email.
Filter subscriptions
Sometimes it’s a good idea to check if there are any subscriptions that you should get rid of. The following may be unnecessary:
- cable television, if no one watches TV anyway;
- magazines and newspapers, if they do not have time to be read;
- recently found paid accounts and applications;
- subscriptions that have lost their profitability;
- subscriptions that can be replaced with free ones.
This way, extra money will be saved.
Hide your credit cards
Credit cards can be a person's worst enemy when trying to save money. Try to put them out of reach. For example, a safe. Of course, there are no obstacles to getting the card back from there. But the essence of this technique is to slow down the interval between the moment when the idea to spend money comes to mind and the moment when you are already holding the card in your hands to pay. The conditional obstacle reminds you why you hid the card, and subconsciously suggests that taking it now and inflating the costs is a bad idea.
Don't forget that none of us are perfect
First of all, let's relax, breathe and remind ourselves that none of us are perfect. Everyone has their own weaknesses and passions - for one it may be an irresistible desire to lie on the couch all day, while for another it may be the need to spend money on new sneakers.
If we constantly limit ourselves and keep ourselves in strict discipline, nothing good will come of it. Remember that you need to pamper yourself from time to time in order to experience the very happiness that we strive for.
Do it yourself
Instead of paying a specialist to repair your apartment, break down appliances or plumbing, solve the problem yourself. A service is convenient and profitable when it helps you with something you can’t handle. In other cases, you are essentially trading your free time for money you have saved. In the future, it will be nice to say “thank you” to yourself for this.
Little tricks
Don't think that brands are the only worthy products. There are manufacturers that have not become brands, who are no worse and at the same time sell their products cheaper.
If you want to buy something expensive at a pharmacy, it’s a good idea to find out if there is a cheaper drug containing the same substance. In a word, not all worthy manufacturers decide to advertise. Maybe their budget doesn’t allow it yet, but we know that advertising is expensive.
ATMs of third-party banks charge fees for services. We shouldn’t forget about this.
On a note! When participating in sales, you should look for discounts and take advantage of only significant ones. If one person buys 1+1=3 things, then there will be two extra things.
You should only buy energy-efficient electrical appliances. Even if they cost more, it will save money. If you have a car, you need to pump up the tires on time.
If you only need to use devices like a sewing machine or chainsaw once a year, it's best to simply borrow them from someone you know.
Find out the real cost
When you want to make a purchase, check its “true cost” for yourself. Calculate how long it takes to earn the money needed for this purchase.
For example, if you earn 300 rubles per hour, and you need 1,500 rubles for a purchase, you spend five hours of your work on it. Converting your cash price to an hourly rate this way helps protect against spending that you might regret in the future.
Read: What skills to improve to become financially successful
Understanding the problem
You should always start simple. If you remember your purchases, they follow the same predetermined scenario: a person buys a beautiful thing, rejoices at the acquisition, but after a few hours the euphoria passes and a feeling of regret about the money spent comes.
The fact is that emotions come and go, they follow the general cycle present in human nature. When the joy of a purchase wears off, it gives way to disappointment and you want to buy something again.
Now the problem is clear, and all that remains is to force yourself to stop wasting money. Common sense will help here.
On a note! You should proceed from the necessity of the purchase. It is also worth asking yourself whether you can buy an analogue cheaper. It would be a good idea to think through your budget plan for a week or a month, sometimes even a year, in advance. Costs can be recorded in a personal expense ledger.
These are the simplest things, but usually people do not resort to them due to laziness. A product is valuable only if, after using it for a long time, satisfaction with this thing does not fade and its practical and emotional usefulness is not lost.
Buying unnecessary goods often requires an amount that can be called “money that I don’t have.” In this case, it is impossible to buy a product without taking out a loan from a bank, which you will then have to repay over three years.
If a person wants to become successful, he should not waste money, but spend it only on truly worthwhile things.
