Know how much you spend
Sounds easy, right? Just keep track of how much you spend every month. Well, for most people this can be an overwhelming task, because of the “little things” we don’t pay attention to. A candy bar here, a fast food meal there, these just slip through the cracks of budgeting and then when we find ourselves wondering where all the money went…we really don’t know.
You don’t have to do this all at once. Start by trying to write everything down for one day. You’ll find that writing it down makes you more aware of what you are spending on, and you’ll probably spend less just because you’re paying more attention.
At the end of the day look at your purchases. Is there anything surprising in your list that you perhaps buy every day but didn’t think much of it because it was just a couple of dollars?
A couple of dollars a day is $60 or more a month! That’s enough to pay your garbage bill, your internet bill, or maybe even your cell phone bill!
Once you’ve done it for a day, try to do it for two days in a row. The goal is going to be turning this into a habit, keeping a little journal in your purse or folded piece of paper in your wallet to track your purchases. Then, at the end of the two days go over your list and find out what your “money suckers” are. The things that don’t seem big, but are preventing you from paying your bills the way you feel you should be able to.
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