Saving
money and sticking to a budget are always a challenge. There are so many
opportunities to spend money without thinking, and so many of life's
obligations and opportunities require a chunk of your finances. How do you
cultivate the spending and lifestyle habits to avoid losing money?
Do not buy things just because they
are expensive. In marketing
they call this a surrogate indicator – it is the idea that because something is
expensive it is of higher quality. This often has no bearing on the reality of
the product. Many times a product is simply expensive because people are
willing to pay a lot of money for it – not because the product is of high
quality.
Value your money. Many people lose money simply because they do
not value it. You are very easily going to give up that which you do not value
and money is no exception to that rule. Many people think that having no money
is a noble thing but there is no nobility in poverty alone and it is definitely
not a noble thing to lose all of your money simply because you do not value it.
Don’t spend more
than you earn. This is the key
to financial stability. The moment you start spending more than you earn is the
moment you begin to become financially complacent. Such a habit can be
difficult to recover from.
Budget your money. Budgeting is a tried and tested way to remain
on to of your finances and stop yourself from losing out. There are numerous
ways to budget your money and many of them are on this website.
- Budget your time. Your time is more precious than money therefore it is imperative that you budget it well. Budget your week, your days, even Look at where you have five minutes, ten minutes, half an hour to spare, what habits and routines can you place in these times that will benefit you in the long run?