We often find ourselves in a trap where we cannot save money, whatsoever. We try not to, but eventually, end up overspending.
This results in us being broke and we often find ourselves in debt. This becomes a lifestyle and we need help to come out of this vicious cycle. Here are sixty tips to help us stop spending money.
Best tips to stop spending money:
Recognize and appreciate your Spending Triggers. Understand why you spend money even if you do not have to. Note down the triggers that excite you and you spend money impulsively. Make sure they are not repeated and your mind acts as an alarm under these circumstances.
Track Your Spending. Track the procedures and the pathways where you spend your money. When you start tracking, you will automatically get to know how frivolously you were spending money. You will automatically stop spending on unnecessary things.
Stick to Cash and take a break from transactions involving Credit Cards. When you put your transactions through cards, it becomes hassle-free and hence you tend to spend money unnecessarily. When you stick to cash, you tend to keep a tab on the expenditure and thus check on the items you need.
Forget that you own Credit Cards – Factually and purposely if needed. Forget that credit cards exist. Rely only on cash for some time till the bank balance shows up. If things are out of control, stop spending either way. When you deliberately forget credit cards, you have no choice but to stop spending.
Set Short-Term Financial Goals. Do not set goals that are impractical and out of your reach. You know you will break after a certain point in time. Set short and simple goals where you can save money without packing a punch and still fulfill small desires within your budget.
Learn How to Budget Money. Log daily entries, get some effective help, and learn the process to save. Analyze your budget and find the loopholes from where the money is leaking. Keeping track of your income is very important and budgeting is a good practice.
Give Every Dollar a Job. Assign every penny you earn some job. Do not keep much miscellaneous spending. Make sure you only spend on things you really need and every penny counts. Understand the true worth of money by stop spending it whenever you like. Create a rational budget and abide by it.
Set Savings Goals. Always chalk out a plan and try to revolve your entire day around it. Once you have an idea about what you want to achieve, you can now chalk out a plan to make the most out of the limited resources to achieve it. This will act as a security hatchet and it will help you from overspending.
Plan your budget. Keep track of the expenditures. Once you record every spending onto a spreadsheet, you will have an idea about how much money you spend on a daily basis. Analyzing it, you can pinpoint the areas that need work, and this way, you will not spend more than you earn. Cut out the expenses that are not worth anything.
Balance before you spend. Always remember to clear all the payments and pending levies before you go out. When you pay your own bills, you get an idea about your financial conditions, and then you can be aware of the amount of money you can spare. This way you can balance your checkbook.
Wait three days. When one is tempted to make a hasty big purchase, it is best to wait for three days and opt for a re-consideration. These three days would allow the person to wait and think about the actual need of buying the product. After the rush of impulse shopping dies, the mind will settle on the fact that it actually wants it or not.
Eat your food. Abstain from going out to eat. You will probably find healthier options in your fridge that will keep you healthy and save money in your pocket. Check your pantry before hitting the store. Before going somewhere, make sure your tummy is full. A hungry shopper spends more so remember to eat before going out to cut the hefty expenditure bill.
Pack your lunch. Do not spend money daily on expensive gourmet or restaurant foods. Make healthy lunch and snack options at home and carry them. You will eat better, create less pollution, and save a great deal of money that you spend behind food trucks and restaurants.
Shop with a list. Spend some time forming a list of all the essentials before leaving. This will galvanize you while you are shopping, and make sure to stick to the list. You will avoid impulse buys and your mind will stop you from making any expenditure after the list has been ticked.
Cancel catalogs and emails. Retailers want you to open their subscription mails and you get mesmerized by the amazing deals and one-time offers. Opt-out from them and if possible, mail them to remove your name from their subscription directories. You can then contain your temptation to buy every latest yet unnecessary item that is on sale. This will save you some cash.
Hideaway your credit cards. If you are trying to save and still failing with your money management, hide your cards. Latch them in a locker so that they are not available whenever you need them.
It takes time to enter the code so that will automatically slow down your habit of using cards everywhere. Using effective deterrents is necessary, how absurd they may sound for you to save money.
Cut up your cards. If you still manage to use credit or debit cards, the only option is to take a drastic step. Just blue-pencil them. This will ensure you take no frequent trips to the ATM and no more urge to buy pointless things. You will automatically stop spending frivolously once you realize what mess you have got yourself into.
Borrow, do not buy. When you have a tight budget, think of borrowing what you need. You can easily borrow or rent most of the daily items. If it is for short-term use, make sure you ask for them and return favors in time. This will help you manage your finances better.
Trade and barter. There are certain things that have value. You need to remember that you own some things that can yield the required items in exchange. Trade what you have on behalf of what you need. Barter your time, if necessary, so that you can borrow what you actually need while saving a lot of money.
Collect spare change. Keep a change jar, and deposit all the coins and loose change you gather. To save them, put a label writing a dream you want to fulfill. It will feel good to see you get closer to that saving goal and you will look forward to depositing more money instead of just wasting it.
Just do it. Go ahead and do the chores yourself. In the long run, these services will seem meaningless to hire a person for. It sure is convenient but it can cost you a fortune when you are already broke. The cost of doing it yourself may be a bit of your time, but it sure can help you save.
Consider the true cost. Before making a big purchase, find the true cost by calculating the hours you would take to earn that money. By effectively converting the monetary figure into work hours, you can deter yourself from making sudden big purchases and regret it later. This way, you can finally save money by eliminating needless spending.
You stop buying things before paying bills. Do not go on shopping sprees before paying your bills and other due payments. Do not just start to swipe cards on payday before sitting down and fulfilling your budget. Pay the bills first and then order stuff.
You can only have the funds for the least amount of card transactions. You should stop making payments when you can barely fit all the minimum payments in your monthly card expenditure. Owing lots of card money is not healthy and you should not spend a penny before clearing all the dues.
The money you make is directly proportional to the money you spend. Do not increase your living standards often. Every time you get a raise, do not just increase your daily expenditures, rather recalculate and add the extra income to a savings fund. You will save a lot of bother and nuisance due to overspending, finding your bank balance sufficient, alongside.
You should stop spending additional money on your earnings. Refrain from spending more just thinking that you can balance it out in the upcoming months. When you tend less to savings, you start pulling money from the savings fund and eventually fail to meet the shortage. Start adjusting and stop the4 cycle altogether after a period of time.
Do not max out the credit cards. Stop overusing credit cards to cover your budget. Start changing your spending habits. This will help you not reach the zero-balance level after which you cannot even charge a penny. Stop telling yourself about the extra limit you have and start saving every penny.
Stop online shopping. To optimize the busy life, we often resort to convenient modes of shopping. The stores make it look so cool, by remembering your transactions, mailing you coupons, and offering you great deals.
Stop falling prey to it. Start going to stores and buying only the necessary items. You will find yourself saving a hefty amount of money.
Stop dining out. Stop spending a large amount of money on restaurants. Food is one of the major flexible portions of our budget, that eats up the money. This increases manifold during the holiday season. Do not recklessly order anything while driving past the takeaways.
Do not overspend on subscriptions. There are lots of subscriptions that are very rarely used. The temptation to use a small amount of money to buy one cannot be resisted and it can really add up at the end of a year. You regularly forget to withdraw from the schemes and end up paying for something you cannot recognize.
Do not save the debit/credit card numbers on websites. This will make you type the credentials every time you have to buy anything. So, you will be prevented from adding unnecessary things to the cart and checking out in a blink.
You will not feel like hunting your card every time you think of buying something and the desire will die soon, saving you money.
Avoid social media ads. You think of something and it pops up within 10 minutes. Try to stay aloof and do not indulge a lot in social media. This will prevent you from buying anything that you see on social media. It may be something you did not plan yet got tempted after seeing it on the socials.
Do not shop to feel better or improve your mood. Do not start searching on social media once you feel low. You should eliminate this thought process of shopping for healing, to increase your finances.
Shopping will not always cheer you up. That momentary bitterness goes off and your cart fills up with unnecessary items. Let this habit go.
The burden to look Aristocratic leads to overspending. Friends might force you to gravitate towards overspending. You can feel guilty rejecting them, so you end up paying the extra amount of money.
Or, they can indirectly influence you to have an expensive present or dine out at a fancy place. You have to control the urge to spend money like this.
Control impulse spends. Stores have a line of workers to make you spend more money. They always have tempting sales or ‘have you seen this’ marks hanging outside. This can lure you to buy that charming expensive stuff that has no worthiness.
They might send you emails giving you coupons and inviting you to clubs. You must have a warning curtain in your mind that does not let you indulge in this type of hefty spending.
Make sure you realize when you are overspending. You are ready to swipe your card at the mall counter without even observing the nitty-gritty of the entire bill. This means you are not paying attention and you spend a huge amount of extra money without even noticing. Remember the paths of your expenses in your head. This way, you can calculate your expenses.
You are paying with plastic. Study shows that people tend to spend 12 to 15% more with cards than with cash. When someone is paying with cards, they spend way more because they have an in-built mindset to do so even if they do not have liquid cash in hand.
You do not understand how deep you are stuck into a debt-like situation before you actually fall prey to it.
Create a realistic budget. Make a guideline about the payments you are going to make. If it fits in the budget, buy it. If not, then wait. Think of it as creating a money plan which is nothing but a guide to help you build the willpower to save. When you have a plan, you look up to it before doing anything drastic.
Use cash envelopes. It is statistically proven that people save money when they use liquid cash. Start by taking small steps where you need to daily debit the required amount out of your savings account. Like this, you will get started to save money and earn what is worth it.
Stop loading your debit/credit card details on websites. A lot of websites make it easier to checkout by saving all your credentials. This just makes it easier to make swift purchases. Log out of every website which will create a barrier and make it harder for you to complete any purchase.
Think before you spend. Think really deep before changing your thoughts about buying. Ask, if you need it, and then track your money goals. If it is still worthwhile, you might spend a hefty amount on it.
If you can survive your bad days without it, then do not. When you track your growth in saving money, it becomes easier to stick to the goal.
Get control of your whim to spend recklessly. Stop spending hefty amounts of money. Control the urge to hit the cart whenever you open an app. Make your willpower strong so that after making a decent amount of money, you do not spend it on a whim. Buzz the bad habit off.
Stop going out for two or three meals. Going out to lunch is expensive. You will be surprised seeing how much you save and how better your health becomes after bringing tiffin from home. You will reduce carbon footprints and save money.
Unsubscribe from sales emails. Stop receiving all the emails from the sellers. Just deny politely when they ask about the email address. Try unsubscribing from several mailing lists one by one. Unrolling is an easy way to save money and time.
Track your spending cycles. Trailing through one’s spending habits can be an eye-opener. The cycle of overspending will stop once you track how much you overspend on trivial grocery items.
Once your grocery budget is finalized, you know where it is going out of line. Download apps to help you spend systematically.
Realize your triggers. Do not judge yourselves for spending. Instead, learn about your triggers and be aware before diving into the pool of money. Once you become aware you now can go to the roots and think of a cure to it. Like this, you can solve the issue of overspending.
Decrease your expenses. If you are spending more than one-fourth of your entire budget on your food, delve deeper to alter the system. See if you can work with a lower percentile. Set small goals and reduce your expenditure each day. Decrease spending in several ways like using coupons, switching to cheaper combo meals, etc.
Create money goals. When the destination is hard, you will tend to avoid it altogether. Make sure you have planned small achievable goals and once you achieve them, make sure to celebrate within your limits. Check your budget, fix a plan, and get going.
Create a simple meal plan. This will stop you from eating junk food. Planning need not be difficult, intricate, and tough. You can have outside food at times, remaining within your budget if you manage to cut costs on the remaining days. Do not go shopping without a list in hand.
Calculate the cost of one item. When your mind tells you to make an immense purchase, make sure you calculate the actual cost of that item. Compare it with the other necessities you need. If the proportion is too much, do not buy the item. It may give you momentary pleasure, but you have to understand it is not worth it given your financial situation.
Order groceries from the pickup facility. Ordering groceries that come with a pickup truck facility saves a lot of money, time, and effort. We do not have to spend time walking to the store and back. We do not eventually throw anything we like at the cart saving money.
We also do not stand at takeaways to order fast food while we return, saving more money. It is a win-win situation for us. Also, there is an option to view the grand total and remove anything extra.
Budget money for personal expenditures. Personal expenses are no joke. Give yourself pocket money, do not cut your family members out of your budget. You spend within your limits, and then you can quickly add up the cash to see the amount left to spend. This way, you will not overspend but you can have certain things within your limits.
Play a part in a no-spend -challenge. This is a different, yet effective method to curb your expenses. You can do this any day or especially on the weekends when you go haywire. You can just start out with a day and then continue for two to three days. You will learn new ways to reuse and recycle and in turn, save a large amount of money.
Get an accountability buddy. This will really help you with overspending. They will set a limit for spending, such that you have to discuss with them before buying anything. You are bound to discuss at least the important category of your budget with him/her, which will help you stay within your boundaries. Anyone who holds you accountable can prove to be important.
Take a Break from shopping with a shopping cart. People love spending money at stores. Do not get a shopping cart, just use your hands to get the amount of stuff you need, bill it, and head out. This prevents overspending a lot.
Overspending doesn’t have to describe your personality. One can overcome the habit of overspending and rewrite their story in their own way. Start today with a new resolution to be a better version, by changing your money habits. The setting stone is to stop overspending, to create a budget, and then to stick to it, no matter what.
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Business, marketing, and blogging – these three words describe me the best. I am the founder of Burban Branding and Media, and a self-taught marketer with 10 years of experience. My passion lies in helping startups enhance their business through marketing, HR, leadership, and finance. I am on a mission to assist businesses in achieving their goals.