How to Avoid Overspending

Do you find yourself quickly spending your paycheck or bonus? Once you start spending money, it will be very difficult to stop. Overspending can lead to piled-up debt and zero savings. It can be difficult to avoid spending, but with the right approach, you can stop spending money and save.

Table of Contents

Evaluate your spending habits

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Think about the hobbies, activities, or things you spend money on each month. Maybe you’re a shoe fanatic, maybe you love food, or you just can’t stop subscribing to a beauty magazine. It is good to find joy in such objects or experiences as long as you can afford it. List the activities and things you enjoy spending money on each month and call them optional monthly expenses. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Ask yourself: Am I spending too much money on those optional expenses? Unlike fixed monthly payments (like rent, living expenses, and other payments), optional expenses are non-essential and easy to cut.
Check for things you don’t use. For example, you signed up for an online game account that you haven’t played in months, signed up for the gym but didn’t go, or canceled your cable TV subscription if you watched online TV.
Admittedly there are some things you need to think hard about, like the gym pass and the cost of the clothes as they may be necessary for your job. You probably won’t cut these parts, but need a closer look.

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Check your spending for the past quarter. View your credit card and bank statements and cash payments to see what you’re spending on. Jot down little things like a cup of coffee, a postage stamp, or a meal on the go. ^{[2] X Research Source}

You might be surprised at how much you spend in a week or a month.
If possible, look at data collected over a year. Most financial planners will look at spending for the entire year before making recommendations for adjustments.
Optional expenses can make up the bulk of your salary or bonus. Keeping a record of these expenses will help you get a sense of where you need to cut back.
Record how you spend on preferences versus needs (for example, drinking beer at a bar versus food for a week).
Calculate what the percentage of fixed spending versus non-mandatory spending is. Fixed spending does not change monthly while optional spending can be adjusted flexibly.

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Keep the invoice. This is a great way to keep track of how much you spend on specific items on a daily basis. Instead of throwing your bills away, keep them to record exactly how much you spent on an item or a meal. This way, if you overspend during the month, you can see exactly when and where you spent your money.

Try to use less cash and instead, use a credit or debit card for easy tracking. You should pay your credit card balance in full every month if possible.

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Use the Budget Planner app to evaluate your spending. This is a program that calculates the required expenditure and income for a year. This app will show you how much you can spend in a particular year based on your spending. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

Ask yourself: Are you spending more than you earn? If you use savings to pay rent or use your credit card to pay for your monthly purchases, you are spending more than you earn. This only causes more debt and less savings. So be honest with your monthly spending and make sure you only spend within your income limit. That means you need to allocate money for monthly spending and savings.
You can also use financial management apps to control your daily spending. Download spending management software to your phone and record purchases as soon as you make them. ^{[4] X Research Sources}

Adjust your spending habits

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Create a spending fund and spend within the limits of the fund. Determine your basic monthly expenses to avoid overspending. These expenses include: ^{[5] X Research sources}

Rent and living expenses. Depending on your living conditions, you may be able to share this cost with a roommate or spouse. The landlord can pay for gas or you pay for electricity monthly.
Go. Do you walk to work every day? Cycling? Take the bus? Carpooling with other people?
Food. Allocate the average amount spent on meals per week for the entire month.
Health care. It is important that you have health insurance in the event of an accident or accident because it will cost more to pay out of pocket than to be covered by insurance. Look online to choose the best premium rate.
Expenditures. If you have pets, you need to determine how much pet food each month. If you and your spouse arrange an evening out once a month, consider it an expense. Calculate all the expenses you can think of, so you’ll know exactly what you’re spending your money on.
If you have to pay off debt, include a necessary expense in your spending fund.

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Always have a goal in mind when you go shopping. That goal could be: a new pair of socks to replace a pair that has been punctured. Or, replace the broken phone. Having a goal when shopping, especially for non-essential items, will help you avoid impulse purchases. Focusing on the essentials when shopping also helps you know how much you need to spend on each purchase. ^{[6] X Research Sources}

When shopping for food, preview recipes and list the ingredients you need. This way, when you’re in the store, you can stick to the list and know exactly how you’re going to use those foods.
If it’s hard to focus on the list of foods listed, try shopping online. This will help you calculate the total amount of your purchase and know exactly what you are spending money on. ^{[7] X Research Sources}

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Don’t get sucked into the sale. It is an irresistible temptation! Retail store owners believe that customers will be attracted by discount shelves. It’s important to resist the urge to shop just because the item is on sale. Even a sharp discount still means spending a lot of money. Instead, you should only consider shopping in two situations: do you need the item? And do you have enough money to buy that item? ^{[8] X Research Sources}

If the answer is no to both of these questions, it’s best to leave the item alone and save money to buy what you need, rather than what you want even though it’s on sale.

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Leave your credit card at home. Bring only the amount of cash you need based on your spending plan to have enough money to spend for the whole week. That way, you’ll avoid unnecessary purchases if you’ve already spent all your money. ^{[9] X Research Source}

If you must carry a credit card, think of it as a debit card, meaning that every dollar you spend on your credit card is the same as your monthly debt payments. Treating your credit card like a debit card means you won’t be in a hurry to swipe it for every purchase.

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Eat at home and bring lunch to work. Eating out can be very expensive, especially if you spend 200,000-300 thousand per day, 3-4 times per week. Reduce grocery shopping to once a week and gradually reduce it to once a month. You will know how much money you save when you buy food to cook at home. You will also find it much more valuable to go out to eat on a special occasion. ^{[10] X Research Source}

Bring lunch every day instead of paying for lunch. Take 10 minutes before going to bed at night or before going to work in the morning to prepare lunch. You will find that you can save a lot of money each week just by taking your lunch out.
Eat out sensibly. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to eat out once in a while. But you should pay attention to other options that help you save more. Check to see if any restaurants have coupons. Try to buy lunch in the supermarket instead of going to the fancy coffee shop.

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Limit spending. Test your spending habits by buying only what you need for 30 days or a month. See how little you spend a month focusing on buying what you need instead of what you want. ^{[11] X Research Source}

This will help you determine what is considered necessary and what is fun. Aside from obvious necessities like rent and food, you might think a fitness center membership is a necessity because the activity keeps you fit and healthy. Or like going for a massage every week to help relieve back pain. You can spend on these needs as long as they are within your budget.

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DIY at home. It’s a great way to learn new skills and save money. There are many blogs and DIY tutorials that help you create expensive objects on a tight budget. Instead of buying an expensive piece of art or decoration, make it yourself. This way will help you create objects as you want and not overspend. ^{[12] X Research Source}

Sites like Pinterest, ispydiy ^{[13] X Research Source} , and A Beautiful Mess ^{[14] X Research Source} all have interesting ideas for you to make your own items at home. You can also learn how to recycle existing items to create new ones, instead of spending money to buy them.
Try to do the housework yourself. Clean the entryway yourself instead of hiring someone to do it. Encourage family members to do chores like washing dishes or cleaning the house.
Make your own household cleaners and beauty products. Most of these products are made with simple ingredients you can buy at your local grocery or natural food store. Laundry detergents, multi-purpose cleaners, even soaps can all be made by hand, cheaper than buying at the store. ^{[15] X Research Source}

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Save money for life goals. Work towards a life goal, like traveling to Europe or buying a house, by setting aside money every month in a savings account. Remind yourself that that savings isn’t for clothes or a weekly outing, but for a larger life goal.

Find help

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Understand the characteristics of impulsive buying. Impulsive shoppers often have no control over their spending habits and emotional spending. They “shop to the point of exhaustion” and continue to shop. However, uncontrolled shopping and spending often leave people feeling depressed about themselves rather than satisfied. ^{[16] X Research Source}

Women are more likely to shop impulsively than men. Women who are impulsive shoppers have shelves of clothes still stamped. They go to the mall with the intention of buying only one thing but come home with many bags of clothes.
Emotional shopping can provide temporary solace during holiday stress, anxiety, and loneliness. This condition also occurs when a person feels bored, lonely and angry.

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Recognize the signs of impulse buying. Do you participate in weekly drop-ins? Do you consistently spend more than you can afford? ^{[17] X Research resources hhttp://www.indiana.edu/~engs/hints/shop.html}

Are you in a hurry to go shopping and buy things you don’t need? Maybe you feel “excited” when you buy a lot of things each week.
Pay attention to whether you have a lot of large credit card debt.
You can hide from your family or spouse about shopping, or try to find a part-time job to earn money to cover this spending habit.
Uncontrollable shoppers will either deny or have a hard time accepting that they have a problem.

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Talk to a therapist. Impulsive shopping can be considered an addiction. So talking to a therapist or joining a support group for impulsive shoppers are important ways to work through problems together. ^{[18] X Research Sources}

During therapy, you may uncover the underlying problems behind uncontrolled spending, as well as become aware of the dangers of overspending. Therapy also offers healthy alternatives to dealing with emotional problems.

Steps

Evaluate your spending habits

Adjust your spending habits

Find help

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