Struggling with impulse spending, and want to become a bit more mature and conservative with your finances? Take a look at the following list of five effective ways to curb impulse spending habits.
Question every purchase you make
Find yourself at the end of a week or month regretting certain purchases that you thought were a good idea at the time, or simply didn’t put enough thought into altogether? Training yourself to be more scrutinous with your spending, and getting yourself into a more frugal mindset, will naturally increase your savings.
The 30 day savings challenge is one that you could try if you’re wondering whether a certain purchase or not. This method involves stopping yourself from buying an item, and instead saving the amount that it costs in an account for 30 days. If you still want to buy after the month has passed, great, if not, you’ve got that money to then save or invest as you please. It’s a simple idea, and one that you don’t need to follow to the tee, but the idea should help you to be more critical in the moment on the things you’re splashing your cash on.
Use your smartphone to your advantage
We as a society use our phones probably more than we’d like to admit every day, and so it makes sense to use them to our advantage when saving. There are a ton of apps out there that will monitor spending trends, and so make the most of them if you’re glued to your screen.
Cleo, an AI app that connects to Facebook messenger, is a unique app that will give you on-the-fly friendly financial advice when you’re out during the day, or deciding whether to go out with your friends at the weekend. Sometimes you just need someone to tell it to you straight, and Cleo’s ‘roast mode’ is perfect for that.
Be smarter and more conscious with your food spending
Eating out when you’ve got food at home, or buying lunch every day at work can add up to be some quite costly outgoings each month, even if they might not seem like it. Of course eating well is important, but there are smarter ways of getting good meals.
Find yourself spending a ton on food and drink each month? Here are a couple of quick things that you could try:
- Try planning your week’s meals in advance, both in terms of what you’re going to eat at home, and what you’re going to do at work. You could even compare pricing in different supermarkets, and spread your weekly shop across multiple places, if it’s not too much of a hassle.
- Sometimes it’s easy to just nip to the chippy or get a takeaway in of an evening, but try if you can to get it down to a set schedule. This way, you’ll have something to look forward to on a regular basis, while also cutting down on the amount that you’re spending. Again, planning your meals for the week in advance will make this easier.
Focus your money towards a long-term goal
A great way of stopping yourself from wasting money is by having a clear long term goal in mind that you want to strive and work towards. Many long-term savings accounts aren’t providing great interest rates at the moment, and so many are thinking about long-term investment strategies in order to secure themselves more financial freedom as they get older.
A long term investment strategy can also be a great way of establishing a consistent secondary income, paid through dividends through a company’s earnings, for example. Within the property investment market, investors that purchase buy to let properties with the intention of letting them out to tenants will stand to make a consistent, regular amount from their tenant’s rental payments. Property investment company RWinvest are one of the many across the country at the moment offering investors the chance to get in on a prime area as it develops, and this investment type might be one worth looking towards if wanting to have control of a physical asset.
Do it with a friend
Need someone to keep you on your toes, and give you an outsider’s perspective when you’re thinking of making a stupid purchasing decision? Get together with a friend and plan a goal together to work towards, helping each other along the way.
Alternatively, if you’re struggling to keep your spending habits in check, you might want to contact a financial advisor or aid that could help you to keep on top of your money, and give you professional pointers on what to do when in a rut.
Treat yourself
At the end of the day, it’s important to take some time to spend money on things you want, and going out and enjoying yourself with friends and family. Sure, be more scrutinous with your finances, but not to the point where you live miserably as a result, as you’ll quickly get burnt out.
