MONEY AND FINANCE

Stopping Spending Waste

Stopping Spending Waste

Spending waste almost sounds like the beginning of a joke. However, almost all of us are guilty of spending money we shouldn’t spend. Hence, stopping spending waste is the real deal.

In financial speak, waste is spending money on things you may not actually need or worse, on items you could care less about. This happens because people do not pay attention to their shopping habits.

The remedy to stopping spending waste is actually very simple. The process takes time and effort but the remedy is simple. It is called identification.

You task will be to identify where the waste resides in your spending regimen. Once you identify it, you can eliminate it.

Your best course of action is to devote one month to tracking everything you buy. The best way to track everything is to write down each and every expenditure, no matter how big or how small, in a pocket type notebook.

This may seem like work but it is a very important and revealing exercise. Your notebook will be visual proof of your expenditures. In fact, you could even call it a worksheet. Regardless of what you label it, your spending habits will be revealed.

Once you can visualize your spending pattern, you can begin to redirect how you spend your money. Each entry should include the date, item, and cost. At the end of each day, run a total of your expenditures.

This may sound extraneous but keep receipts of all your purchases so you can balance them when you total your expenses. This insures the accuracy of your number.

Remember, you will be doing this for a minimum of four weeks. I say minimum because once you start, you probably will continue to track your outgo.

Most people are able to identify areas of spending waste fairly quickly. What you will notice are two different types of purchases. You will see you are spending money on wants and needs.

Wants are those items like entertainment, vacations, fast food, etc. Needs are food, shelter, transportation, etc. If you are in a money hole, the easiest way to emerge is to minimize the wants and concentrate on the needs.

Remember the idea is to cut spending waste from your lifestyle. This method is a sure fire means to putting you back in control of your money.

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