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( votes)With more ways to spend than ever before and easier access to your money, it’s easy to lose sight of your spending and start falling behind. To prevent a financial disaster, it’s important that you find a way to control your spending so you have access to more disposable income. With more money in your pocket, you will be able to make better financial choices moving forward.
There are many different strategies and techniques that you can use to curb your spending. Understanding your own spending behaviours will help you to make positive changes and take control of your finances. Budget tracking tools can be highly effective in helping you to monitor your finances and stay on top of your spending. Whether you choose to use one of these great tools or utilise another strategy, the important thing is to gain control over your financial future.
Let’s take a look at a few useful strategies you can implement to take control of your spending and put more money in your wallet.
Know Your Triggers
The first step in controlling your spending is understanding exactly what your spending triggers are. Identifying the reasons for your over-spending will help you to build habits to avoid spending unnecessarily in these situations in the future. Spending triggers are different for anyone and can include things like the time of day, your environment, your mood, lifestyle and even peer pressure. Being aware of your triggers will help you to regain control when you feel the impulse to spend and develop better spending behaviour over time.
Track Every Cent
Looking back at the end of the week, it’s easy to forget about a lot of the smaller payments, and even some of the bigger payments, you have made. Online spending and contactless payments have made it easier than ever to make quick forgettable payments with ease. To ensure you always know how much you are spending, it’s important to track every cent that you spend. Whether you’re buying furniture for your home or you’re taking a bus, you need to track your outgoings. With this data, you can identify exactly what your unnecessary expenses, how much they are costing you and make changes to curb those costs.
Set Financial Goals
To keep your spending on track, it’s important to have goals in place. With a clearly defined financial objective in place, you will think twice about your spending as it impacts you reaching your target on time. You might decide to save $50 per week to have a rainy day fund or might aim to save $1,000 per month for the next year to take that trip you’ve always dreamed of. Whatever your goals are, be sure to write them down and hold yourself accountable. Having achievable goals in place will help you to control your spending as you focus on the larger financial picture.
Set A Budget
Take some time, sit down and figure out your finances. Write down all of your monthly fixed costs such as your mortgage or rent, loan payments and car payments. Next estimate how much you spend on variable costs such as groceries, utilities, entertainment and other changeable costs. Add your fixed costs and variable costs together and compare them to your income. You will quickly see where you need to reduce your costs and you can start planning your finances with more confidence so you spend in the right areas.
Take Control Of Your Spending Going Forward
Take control of your financial future by taking control of your spending. By reigning in unnecessary spending, you can save a lot of money each month, putting you under less financial pressure. With a better understanding of your triggers, a budget in place and clear financial goals in place you can learn to take control of your spending and increase your disposable income in the process.
