Your income is something that may not be changing any time in the near future, but you are very much in charge of what you spend. Many people are wasting money and don’t even realize it. I’ve compiled the top 6 bad spending habits that have helped us to go from living paycheck to paycheck (and frequently spending more than was coming in) to feeling like we have an overage of money each month!

Whether you are currently working on getting out of debt or have already done so it doesn’t matter. These tips can help essentially anyone because they’re small things you may not even know you are doing. It’s the small things that add up to the big money at the end of the year.

As I say all of the time, initially I fought budgeting. I felt like it was going to limit our family too much and I didn’t feel I needed to report every dollar I spent. But do you know what? That budget actually was the most freeing thing we’ve ever done financially, and after we got our budget in place I was looking for ways to save even MORE wasted money each month. Small changes like the ones I’m going to tell you about are the things that have changed our family.

I do mean changed our family. Money is most certainly not everything in life, in fact as time goes on I value money and things less and less. BUT the fact is that you need money to LIFE. Period. And when you don’t have the stress of debt it allows you to have a better life all around. It allows you to spend time with your family, quality time. It allows you to leave work early without worrying about the financial consequences. It allows you to do what makes you happy without feeling like you should be doing something else. I could go on and on about the positive changes getting out of debt and breaking bad spending habits have made to our family, but let’s get in to this so you can see the changes as well.

 

 

1.Eating Out For Convenience. 

Let’s not get off on the wrong foot here. We LOVE to eat out. We are huge foodies and would spend a pretty penny on a great meal, BUT we refuse to spend money on food simply for convenience. Also, I have a hard time spending our restaurant budget on subpar food.

I know. You’re busy. You’re running errands, working, taking care of the kids and yourself. It’s just easy to run through the drive through on the way home or even grab a quick meal out. Every once in awhile we even do the same. I agree, SOMETIMES it can’t be avoided.

However, this one tip has single handedly saved us over $600 per month. Yep, $600 per month. When we looked at what we were spending on eating out or grabbing gas station snacks on the way to work we were at between $700 and $800 PER MONTH. Take a look at what you’re spending, really look at it. It may not be quite the problem we had but I guarantee you’re spending more than you think.

Aside from the financial strain eating out for convenience causes, it’s also so much healthier to eat meals that you’ve made. I found it hard to lose weight after babes popped out and I realize it was in part to us just grabbing food out. Hubby put a quick stop to that – for budget reasons only – but I also noticed my jiggly baby belly started to shrink! Happy side effect of budgeting.

It may sound like we restricted ourselves like crazy dropping $600 out of the budget every month, but it wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be. It was simply being conscious of purchases. Also, check out my post  Think You Don’t Have Time to Food Prep? Think Again!

Being conscious of your purchases is what I want you to focus on. That’s it!

For example, on our way home from the gym. Both of us are STARVING. You know that post workout hunger that turns you in to some sort of hangry monster. That’s us. Anyway, on our way home from the gym, looked at each other and said “should we stop for food? I’m starving”. Although we were a little grouchy we took a second and decided that the 5 extra minutes to drive home wouldn’t kill us and would save us that $25 we would have spent. The key is having food at home. Which brings me to my next point.

2.Impulse Grocery Shopping

I’ve been tweaking our grocery budget for over a year, and there are LOTS of tips I can share about how to cut that budget down without compromising on quality, quantity or variety. If you’re interested in some of those tips let me know! Each family is a little different and it takes some tips and some tweaks for your own family to make that happen. But I will share the MOST IMPORTANT tip: have a plan.

One of the biggest ways we save money is by only making trips to the grocery store once a week or less. We tend to have certain things on hand at all times: a variety of meat, veggies, almond milk, and juice as well as pantry staples such as seasonings and sauces. So, we make one BIG bulk shopping trip for meat for the month – we love SAMs and COSTCO even has organic meats – and then 3 small grocery store trips for items we are running low on.

This allows us to have the items we need for fun, gourmet dinners we want to make as well as the ability to create a variety of meals with things we already have on hand.

Running to the grocery store 3 and 4 times a week to pick up something for dinner can cost you $50-$75 in one trip. That’s a couple hundred dollars a week on random groceries. That doesn’t even count your bigger trips.

I will use my mom as an example (sorry momma). She’s always been a free spirit and though she has gotten much better over the years, she usually doesn’t have a plan and she’s a huge impulse shopper. She makes her larger grocery run once-ish a week and this can run upwards of $200. THEN there are the shopping runs for dinner ingredients. Even for just roasted chicken, coleslaw, veggies and potatoes for a family of 4 she can spend $100. I’ve seen it too many times.

You don’t realize the actual amount you’re spending on groceries because we tend to focus on the big trips and don’t even count those quick stops on the way home from work.

Here’s a great Pinterest post I refer to How to feed your family for $21 per person per week.

Want to save money? Have a plan. Impulse buys are where you’re leaking your money.

3. Online shopping – Especially 1 click

Amazon. Oh Amazon how I love you.

Make that a love/hate relationship since places like Amazon make is SOOO EASY to buy things online. It’s mindless. Combine that with a credit card linked to your account and you’ve got a recipe for overspending. Add in a few glasses of wine and 2 days later you’ve got a pile of boxes at your front door and a serious case of buyer’s remorse.

Technology really does make things easier. You can research the best brands, find the best deals, and have those items shipped to you all without leaving the couch! But the ease of it is what causes the problem. You end up buying things that you may have wanted but you really didn’t need.

Put those items in your cart. Go ahead, fill it up with as much as you want. THEN WAIT. Wait a solid 24 hours before you click purchase. This gives you enough time to make sure that these are things you really need and it’s money that you really want to spend.

A little side perk: most companies see that these items are in your cart and they send you coupons or incentives like free shipping to encourage you to buy them! So, if you still really really want those things now you’ve got a little bonus.

Again, just be conscious of your purchases. It’s your money. Spend it however you wish but make sure you’re not just spending on a whim. Trust me, those ON SALE TODAY ONLY ads even reel me in. Ask my hubby, my Amazon cart is always filled with wants.

Another little tip: unlink all of your credit cards for your online accounts. Sounds crazy right? It’s so inconvenient to find your card and put in the number and info every time you want to buy something. Why not just leave it there?

That’s the point! It makes you stop, think, and make an actual effort in order to buy something. It’s not the norm, but if you’re reading this you don’t want to fit in with the norm. You want to be OUT OF DEBT and saving some money!

4. Using Credit Cards if the money isn’t there

Oh my. This has gotten so many of us in trouble. My hubby and I are followers of the Dave Ramsey plan. If you haven’t heard of it take a look. It basically says you only spend what you have and he couldn’t be more right. However, he is 100% against credit cards. That’s where disagree Mr. Ramsey.

Credit cards these days have great cash back programs, travel rewards, points, you name it. We have used credit cards without a problem and in a year have racked up hundreds of dollars in cash back as well as multiple flights and hotel stays. PLUS they have fraud protection! This is great when traveling because I know if my card gets lost, stolen or scammed I just turn off the card and the money is refunded. Talk about sigh of relief. I can’t stop using my credit cards…

What we did stop doing was using the credit cards irresponsibly. We use them almost as debit cards.

It’s so easy to just swipe, swipe, swipe those cards when you’re making purchases, and those purchases add up without you realizing. Next thing you know you’re looking at your statement and thinking “I don’t have enough money to pay for this”. Next thought for most of us “I’ll just pay what I can this month and pay the rest with next week’s check!”

I know, we did it too. But then there are more purchases you have to make and the cycle continues month after month but now you’re paying INTEREST on top of all of it!

If trying to keep track of every dollar you spend with credit cards sounds a little overwhelming, I have a solution. The Every Dollar app tracks everything you spend in one place. And when you set a budget it eliminates that fear of spending more than you have. As long as you are honest with yourself then there is literally ZERO chance of you not being able to pay for the things you purchase. Want to see how? Check out my “You want to budget. Now what?” 

5.Interest and late fees.

Whether you’re trying to get yourself out of debt or you’ve suddenly gotten yourself in to that cycle of credit card use we were talking about earlier, this is something I want you to pay attention to.

WASTED money. WASTED WASTED money. There is absolutely nothing you are gaining by paying for this and serious money to be lost!

Interest rates on credit cards are insane. Do you even know what yours are? It doesn’t matter if you have good credit, bad credit or no credit. It may change the percentage a bit but it’s still going to be high. It is perfectly legal for credit card companies to charge you up to 79.9% interest as long as they disclose this to you.

Now, of course most of us aren’t looking at those kind of numbers, but Kohls credit cards have a 24.3% interest rate, my Chase card 15.9%, and even my lowest interest rate credit card is still over 10%. Some of you may be thinking that’s not that much, but trust me it adds up to hundreds of dollars very quickly.

For example: take a very conservative credit card payment of $250 at the end of the month. Not bad. Well, 24.3% of $250 is $60. SIXTY dollars! That’s 2 gym memberships, a lunch out with your hubby, a pair of shoes. But instead of those things, you’re getting nothing… Nothing but giving the credit card company your money. Doesn’t make sense does it?

And late fees. These can be just as insane as the credit card interest. Our mortgage company charges $50 for the first week your late then up from there. HOA company charges a whopping $90 for being a day late. Water bill late by a week? $60. Again, what are you getting for this? Nothing.

If you’re thinking that sometimes late fees can’t be avoided, I’m sorry but you’re wrong and I want to help you break that cycle.

When you lay out your budget correctly that eliminates this problem. You pay your bills and essentials first then allocate the rest.

Think about all of the money you could be saving each month. That’s money back in your pocket that can be used to put towards your other debt, put towards retirement, or basically anything you want. It’s your money. Time to get it back!

Take a look at a few of my budgeting posts to get you started!

6.Giving yourself TOO MANY rewards.

Let’s end with a simple and easy one.

You often hear me talking about not giving yourself enough of a break or not setting aside a miscellaneous fund. However, there’s such a thing as too much money spent on rewards and it happens so easily.

Make sure you give yourself a little wiggle room. You’re only human, but just like with dieting, the plan won’t work if you’re always rewarding yourself. A new purse for staying on budget, an outfit for paying off that credit card, or dinner out for paying off your car. All great things. Just don’t let your rewards outweigh your work.

Getting out of debt and learning to save is a journey. It’s going to take time and it’s going to take some will power. But it’s not about making constant and huge sacrifices. It’s the small changes that you’re really going to see results with. Also, making small changes are why you’re going to be able to stick with it.

These 6 Spending Habits are things you can and should change now. You will be amazed at the effect it will have on your finances!

“Money is neither good nor evil, it is merely a tool that can be utilized to design the life you want to live”

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