Bad Money Habits You Need To Stop Making Now

At the time of writing, we are only a few days into 2018, and many of you will be making changes to your lifestyle as part of your new year resolutions. If this is the case, good luck to you and we hope you manage to stick to them. Of course, you don’t need to wait until the start of every new year to make changes to your life. Especially when it comes to your finances, there may be bad habits you should try and break at any point during the year. Don’t know what we mean? Well, in this article we will list some of the bad habits you may be guilty of. Self-awareness is the first stage in being able to deal with your problems, and if you know what your bad money habits are, you will be in a better position to do something about them.
The following are some of the financial habits you need to quit… immediately!
Getting yourself into further debt
If you are just coming out of the Christmas holidays, you may have already run up a huge amount of debt to help you survive the season. However, you may also have debt from purchases you made at other times of the year, or you may be considering taking out yet another credit card or bank loan at the moment. Whatever the case, don’t make life worse for yourself. Debt is something we can all live without, on a practical and emotional level. If it’s getting on top of you, consider amalgamating your debts into a lower-interest monthly payment, and speak to your creditors for a payment break. If you need to take out another loan, then apply online or at your local bank for something with short-term interest, rather than a loan that will take a long time to clear.
Having a ‘live for today’ mentality
If you have money to burn, fine, at least you will cut down on your utility bills if you use it as an energy source! Be truthful, however. You probably don’t have unlimited funds, so the constant squandering of your money will be problematic. You will run out of it for a start! So, cut back on your spending. Use a budget planner and find out exactly how much money you have to spend, exclusive of food, bills, etc. Even if you do have money left over at the end of each month for your next ‘essential’ purchase, you should still stop and think. Instead of spending it, why not put it into your savings instead, or add it to your retirement fund. Living for today is foolish, so prepare yourself for a brighter tomorrow.
Dipping into your savings
We are all guilty of dipping into our savings, but this should only be a last-resort thing to do. A financial disaster, such as losing a job or having urgent repairs on your home, should be the only reason why you take money out of your savings fund. Buying something you don’t need, or taking little pockets of money out for things like the occasional takeaway should be a big no-no. So be mindful. To take away the temptation, open a separate savings account, preferably one that will accrue plenty of interest, and lock it from wasteful spending, such as with a limited access account. The same applies to your emergency fund. If you have a jar of coins at home, empty it into your bank account on a regular basis, so you aren’t tempted to put your greedy fingers into it for frivolous spending.
Not shopping around for better offers
Quite often, we spend more money than we need too, in many aspects of our life. If we spent a little more time shopping around for better deals, such as better rates of interest or the amount we pay on our utility bills, we can save ourselves a lot of money every month. The same applies to purchases we make. Rather than buying something when you see it online or on the store shelves, resist the urge to buy immediately and see if you can buy it for cheaper elsewhere. This includes the January Sales. You can be suckered in by attractive pricing, but there are sales all year round, so it still pays to wait if you don’t need something immediately.
Bottom line
Bad habits, such as smoking or drinking excessively, can be bad for our health. The same applies to your finances. If you can break the bad habits mentioned above, not only will you have a healthier bank balance at the end of each month, but you will feel better emotionally too, as you won’t have the stress of dealing with your poor finances. So, make every effort to get your financial affairs in order, and seek further advice if you are struggling to break the bad habits we mentioned.