Examples of Good and Bad Spending Habits

Understanding how to manage your spending habits is the first step to creating a healthy bank account.However it’s one thing to say “make good financial choices”, but not everyone knows what that means or how to accomplish it. Let us help you navigate your habits, by giving examples on how to achieve good habits.

Good Spending Habits

Let’s start off with the good things. Look through this list of 5 good spending habits, and tick off any which you already do. If you see new ideas which you aren’t using, make these habits your new reality.

Creating Budgets

The best way to control your money is to create a budget. Budgets can take time to create, as you need to sit down with your bills and figure out how much you are spending to maintain your lifestyle. 

But once you have done the leg work, you don’t need to go through that process again until your bills change. When you know how much you are spending on bills and groceries, you should subtract it from your income. What remains is your free-spending money.

Figuring this out can tell you how much you can spend on non-consequential items that make you happy but aren’t needed – such as trips to the cinema or buying yourself a present.

It allows you to know how much money you actually have available to spend.

Tracking Spending

Once you have created a budget, and know what your free-spending allowance is, you can figure out how much you can spend until the next payday. If you are paid monthly, it might be helpful to divide the free-spending money by 5, to learn how much you can spend every week.

Whatever you buy, be sure to make a note of the cost. This will help you remember how much you spent on your allowance, and therefore how much you have remaining.

Saving Money

If you refresh your free-spending allowance every week you may decide to roll any unused amounts onto your next weekly allowance. This can be helpful when you know a big-spending week is coming, such as a vacation. 

However, if you haven’t spent all the money and don’t see a large spending week on the horizon, you can put the remaining finances in a savings account.

This will allow you to slowly build your savings week by week, simply by storing any unused money you know is freely available to you.

Removing Unused Subscriptions

Every now and then, you should check on your budget and unsubscribe from any services that you don’t actively use. You may want to check every month to see what has become redundant, or you could check every year. If something hasn’t been used in a year, you should unsubscribe and save the money instead of wasting it.

Using Credit Appropriately

Some people think that good spending habits mean avoiding credit lines completely, but this isn’t true. If you need to renovate your home, but you don’t have the finances to complete the job, you shouldn’t be left in squalor as you wait for the money to drip into your account.

Instead, you should consider the credit lines available to you. For example, you can find Idaho loans online, which can allow you to pay the builders upfront but make the cost of your renovation a monthly bill instead of an all-in-one payment.

By talking to any lender, you can discuss the amount of money you need to borrow, the time frame to pay it back and the monthly payments the lender requires. It turns massive payments into easier-to-manage chunks.

Bad Spending Habits

Sometimes it takes a bit of self-reflection to realize that something you are doing isn’t helping you. Take some time to read through the list below, and if you see yourself in any of the headings, consider how these spending habits are helping or hindering your finances.

Using Credit Cards For Daily Needs

Credit cards should only be used to buy items you can pay off at the end of the month. They shouldn’t be used to pay for your daily needs such as bills or groceries. This is because your essentials should be paid for with the money you know you have, this way you will never be short on your necessities.

Instead, you should use your credit card to pay for small and manageable costs. Ideally, you should pay off the whole debt each month, to stop interest fees from charging you. If you cannot pay off the whole amount, you can easily spiral into a vicious cycle of unpaid bills.

Paying For Things You Can Do Yourself

Buying a coffee on your way to work can be a lovely treat, however, it shouldn’t be a daily occurrence. If you really need that coffee you should consider making it at home and using a traveling cup instead.

This way you still get the thing you need, without paying triple the amount it took you to make.

Shopping Without A Plan Or Budget

It can be easy to overspend when you don’t have a list or a budget. Before you head out for a shopping trip, you should consider what you need and how much you can afford. Round up every purchase you make, so you can be certain you’re not overspending.

Avoid spontaneous purchases, and instead, consider if you really need or want the item before parting with your money.

Shopping As Entertainment

Although shopping can be fun, you shouldn’t participate in the activity just because you are bored. If you don’t need or truly want the items you are scrolling through online, then you will end up with a crowded house, with items you don’t use, and no money to spend on the things you need.

Summary

Following these examples can help you manage your money and avoid unnecessary spending. Generally speaking, good money management comes from organizing your finances and creating plans. 

No matter what your plans or organization system looks like, as long as it makes sense to you and you can follow it, then the plan will be good.

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