One Bad Money Habit That is Keeping You Broke

[Jasmine]

If you are earning well but you are living pay check to pay check that might be because you have some bad money habits that are keeping you broke. In order to avoid being broken, you should stop spending freely and take a bird’s eye view on your cash flow. A lot of people are themselves the part of the problem, so if you are one of them, here are some bad money habits you need to avoid.

Stop justifying your spending

A lot of people have this habit to justify their spending. They believe they need that dress badly, they need that shoes badly, they need coffee to stay alive, enjoying uber eats once in a while will not do any harm in personal finance. If you are a person who spends money on non-essentials and still justify your spending, you need to stop doing that. A lot of people are buying things that they do not actually need.

 

[Mika]

Well, I never thought in that way, but after reading this post, I think a lot of people will find themselves in this situation. I drink 5-6 cups of coffee every day, I spend a lot of money on coffee. However, I always have this impression that coffee is an essential item for me, I cannot stay sane and work properly without putting a lot of caffeine inside my body. This is nothing for justifying my spending. I am trying to justify my non-essential spending as essential spending. Coffee is just one example, a lot of people have a lot of guilty pleasures and they believe these are essential spending. If you do not have any issues with finances, I think there is nothing wrong in spening money on thngs that you enjoy doing, however, if you are sffering from financial crisis you will have to give up everything that are non-essentials.

 

[Abigael]

This is very true. Careless spending is one of the biggest causes of going broke. Its effects feed on the justification you place on it. You never keep yourself accountable for your bad spending habits, instead you make it seem like a good thing. But later you realize that you did not even need the things you bought.

Some tips to make this stop include;

1. Analyze your expenditure - this is by keeping record of the things you usually buy. This record will help you identify your needs from your wants.

2. Budget your spending - you need to budget on how you will be buying your needs and paying bills. That way, your goal is to buy needs first and wants later. It is best to include some luxury wants there so that you don't end up buying them impulsively.

3. Build your discipline around spending - this can be achieved by doing things such as;

• Saying no to spending urges.
• Going shopping with just the amount of cash that is enough for it.
• Saying no whenever you feel like taking an unnecessary loan.

 

[Holicent]

Make a budget.

Just like you listed. This is the first thing to do in taking control of your finances. A budget helps you see where your money goes, and it gives you an idea of how much you can spend on various things. It can also help you plan for unexpected expenses like car repairs or medical bills.

2. Save up for a goal.

Make a list of all the things that are important to you — maybe it's retirement, or buying a new home, or paying off debt, or saving for college tuition, then find out how much money you need be there. When you have this goal in mind, make sure that every dollar goes toward it until it's reached and crossed off your list!

3. Create an emergency fund.

Having an emergency fund helps ensure that when something unexpected happens (like the unexpected car repair), there will be enough money to cover it without having to go into debt or sell personal belongings just to pay for the bill today – which could have been prevented if there were more cash saved up in the first place.

4. Build up retirement savings every month.

 

[moonchild]

Well, whenever I'm having a bad month spending wise, I try to work hard to augment my spendings, it puts pressure under my ass.

I think cutting down your expenses will not work, they're expenses for a reason, I love buying clothes, I spend money buying and I don't think it's a mindless consumption.

My aim is to make more money, so that I wouldn't worry about expenses, all of these things are produced to be consumed if not they'll be no point making them in the first place.

Because even if you save money at the of the day something will come up and will make you spend the money.

It might make sense to save if you want to buy something in a short period of time, but denying your self what you want because of consumption doesn't make sense to me really, but that's just my perspective and how I see things.

 

[Shaf]

Like most people, I'm also guilty of spending on things I like. Sometimes, it is necessary though to splurge a bit on yourself. After all, what's the need for working so hard to make money and then living like a pauper when life is so short? Spend some money, bit do not waste it.

I spend a lot on good food and grocery. Luxury items are a no-go for me though.
I believe the main bad money habit that is keeping me broke is that I make bad decisions when it comes to investing. I save for a long while, but none of the investments I've made have ever retuned the capital used. This means I've been running at a loss.

This is what I want to work on for a year. What looks like a promising investment is cryptocurrency trading. I've been tweaking my strategy with a small amount of money while saving money to go into it big time. A profit of $200 each month is the least I'm planning towards.