Stop Wasting Money Already
Summary: All of us have spending leaks, money we spend that we shouldn’t. Stop wasting money already!<br> We’re getting back to basics. While you were all busy investing in <a href="https://www.listenmoneymatters.com/realtyshares-review/">real estate</a> and monitoring your portfolios, you’ve been steadily wasting money. We’re all guilty of it, but from time to time we need to go back to personal finance 101 and take a hard look at how much we are spending day to day.<br> What Gets Measured Gets Managed<br> How many transactions are charged to your credit card that you forgot about or know about and don’t use but don’t bother canceling? When it’s $8 a month here for <a href="https://www.listenmoneymatters.com/go/netflix/">Netflix </a>that you don’t watch and $35 a month there for a gym you don’t go to, it starts to add up.<br> Sit down and go through your credit card transactions. <a href="https://www.listenmoneymatters.com/go/trim/">Stop those subscription expenses that you don’t use</a>.When you don’t even swipe your card for transactions like those, you don’t realize how much money you’re wasting.<br> And when you hand over your card for little things like coffee or a bodega bacon, egg, and cheese, at that moment, you don’t feel like you are losing anything during that transaction. You’re just pulling money out of an account you don’t see.<br> Do you really enjoy that coffee each morning or is it just part of your routine on your way to work? If you sit down and drink your coffee and read the paper, fair enough. That is enjoyable.<br> But if you just grab it after you leave home (where there is coffee) and before you get to the office (where there is coffee), that’s nothing special; it’s just a habit. A habit costing you money with no real return.<br> Maybe you meet friends every week for trivia night or board games. This is something you don’t have to spend money on; it’s not a necessity. But it is enjoyable, probably more enjoyable than your coffee on the way to work.<br> Or maybe you enjoy them both. But nearly all of us have limited resources, only so much disposable income. You will sometimes have to choose between two things you enjoy or start thinking about how to you can earn some more money.<br> As it Happens<br> Because spending these relatively small amounts of money doesn’t feel like spending money, you have to make it more painful. Every time you spend money, write it down as it happens in a little notebook or log it into an app like <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/spending-tracker/id548615579?mt=8">Spending Tracker</a> (for iOS) or <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.expensemanager&hl=en">Expense Manager </a>(for Android).<br> If you can’t manage that, use the boot camp of <a href="https://www.listenmoneymatters.com/quicken-alternatives/">budgeting systems</a>, the envelope method. It’s strict, but it works. You make an envelope for each of your non-fixed expenses, so things like gas, groceries, clothes, entertainment, etc. and budget a certain amount of money for each envelope.<br> When an envelope is empty, you have no more money to spend in that category until the following week or month, however often you set the budget. No credit or debit card to bail you out, you leave those at home until you are disciplined enough to make the envelope method work sans envelopes.<br> Bonus Tip<br> If this all sounds penny ante and you want to save pounds, not pennies, there is one sure way to save money. Get a cheaper living situation.<br> That might mean moving home with mom and dad for a time, getting a roommate, moving to a cheaper apartment or home, or moving to a location with a lower cost of living than where you are now.<br> The personal finance rule of thumb is to spend no more than one-third of your income on rent...
