Not Using a Budget
A budget is single handedly the best tool in your drive for financial success. In order to prevent wasteful spending and in order to grow your savings, you have to know where your money is going. Sit down once a month with your banking information and plan. Plan our your bills that need to be paid, expected expenses (gas, groceries, etc) and spending limits within each of your line items. Make sure that your budget expenditures are less than your income so that you have money left over to build up a savings.
Using Credit
Unless you are planning to pay it off right away, using credit to make your purchases is a huge money waster. All you are doing is signing up to make added interest payments. How does this make sense?
Impulse Buying
Impulse buys are among the biggest one wasters. Think about it. How many times do you spend $3 here or $5 there because it’s only a couple of dollars? Truth be told, these small purchases often add up to more than some of your bills each month. It is important to be more mindful of what you are buying.
Not Keeping Track of What You Spend
Aimlessly and blindly spending money is a bad habit to get into. Not only can you be spending money that you need to be saving or paying bills with, but you could potentially be overspending and putting yourself into a deficit with means added bank fees. These can be easily avoided, but are very expensive when they happen. It’s always a good idea to keep track of what you are using your money for that way if you are running into shortfalls, you know where you can afford to cut.
Paying Late
Sure it may seem like a good idea to pay a bill a couple of days late to free up some cash in the interim, but depending on the bill, there is likely a pricey late fee that will be tacked onto your account. Most utilities charge a $5 to $10 late fee, while a credit card or loan payment late fee is likely to be $25+. When you consider how many of these accounts you have, those late fees will add up quick!
