Do you have a tendency to spend everything you earn shortly after payday? Once the shopping has started, it seems almost impossible to stop. Spending more than what you own will lead you, however, to have numerous debts and not even a penny aside. Losing bad habits may not be easy, but with the right approach you will be able to stop overspending, with the advantage of finally seeing your savings grow.
Steps
Part 1 of 3: Evaluating Your Shopping Habits
Step 1. Consider any hobbies, activities, or items that lead you to spend money each month
Maybe you have an obsession with shoes, love to eat out, or have a lot of subscriptions to fashion magazines. Taking pleasure in material objects or experiences is not wrong, as long as you can afford it. Make a list of the items and activities that drive you to spend a lot of money to satisfy your personal whims each month.
Ask yourself the following question: Are these passions of mine driving me to spend too much money? Unlike fixed essential expenses, which include for example rent, bills and insurance and always remain the same, those that satisfy secondary needs are not necessary, therefore they are easier to reduce
Step 2. Analyze your financial outgoings for the past three months
Read your bank and credit card statements, and examine how you spent the cash to see where your salary generally ends. Also consider the seemingly smaller expenses, including those for coffee, snacks, chewing gum, and postage stamps; do not leave out anything!
- You may be surprised at how much money you end up spending in a single week or month.
- If possible, analyze data for an entire year. Most financial advisors require you to review a full year of expenses before they can make a judgment and make recommendations.
- Spending on secondary needs can end up absorbing a large portion of your monthly income. By recording them, you will be able to get an idea of where cuts can be made.
- Differentiate expenses for necessary goods from those for activities and unnecessary items (for example, "weekly shopping at the supermarket" versus "aperitif at the bar").
- Find out what are the percentages related to the two types of expenses: essential and superfluous. Fixed expenses tend to stay the same every month, while those for secondary needs are completely flexible.
Step 3. Keep your receipts
This is a good way to keep track of how much you spend on certain daily purchases. Instead of throwing away your receipts, keep them so you can keep track of exactly how much you spent on a particular item or meal. In this way, if at the end of the month you realize that the expenses have exceeded the income, you can precisely define where you have spent your money.
Try reducing the use of cash in favor of an ATM or credit card, both of which are much easier to track. Remember that, if possible, the expenses incurred with the credit card should always be paid in full every month
Step 4. Use a family accounting program
It is a software that helps you to track your monthly or yearly income and expenses. Each month or year you will know exactly how much you can afford to spend after meeting the fixed costs.
- Ask yourself if you tend to spend more than you earn. If you are forced to tap into your savings to pay your monthly rent or use your credit card to indulge in compulsive shopping, it means that you are unfortunately spending more money than you are earning. This behavior of yours will inevitably lead you to accumulate greater debt, while reducing your savings. Try to make your monthly expenses as transparent as possible, plus make sure your expenses don't exceed your income. To do this, you must learn to keep track of every amount of money you spend or earn each month.
- Download an app on your mobile that can help you keep track of all your daily expenses, large or small. Having it always on hand will allow you to record each amount immediately after spending it.
Part 2 of 3: Changing Your Shopping Habits
Step 1. Set and stick to a budget
Calculate the total amount of fixed expenses each month to make sure you are not spending more money than you actually have. Your regular outings are likely to include:
- Rent and bills. Depending on your living conditions, you may be able to share these costs with a roommate or with your partner. The homeowner may bear some costs, while others will be borne by you each month.
- Transportation. How do you reach the workplace every day? Walking? By bike? Or maybe by public transport or collective transport?
- Food. Predict your average daily spend for your meals, then multiply it on a monthly basis.
- Medical care. It is important to be able to count on health insurance in the event of an accident or accident, otherwise you may find yourself forced to incur very high costs, higher than those of the insurance installment. Do some research online to find the policy that best suits your needs.
- Miscellaneous expenses. If you live with a pet, this item may contain the cost of purchasing their food for the entire month. If you are in the habit of going out for dinner once a month with your partner, list the related expenses here. Write down any ordinary costs that come to your mind to be able to determine as accurately as possible where you are spending your money.
- If you have debts, enter them under "fixed expenses".
Step 2. Go shopping with a clear goal in mind
For example, you may need to buy a new pair of socks to replace the worn ones, or you may need to replace your broken cell phone. Going shopping with a well-defined goal in mind, especially when it comes to a secondary expense, will help you not to get carried away. Furthermore, by focusing exclusively on the object you need, you will have the possibility to define the budget at your disposal in advance.
- Before you go to the supermarket, select a few recipes, then create a targeted shopping list. This way, when you find yourself among the shelves full of products, you can limit yourself to looking for those listed on your list, knowing exactly where and how you will use each ingredient placed in your cart.
- If you are having trouble sticking to a limited grocery list at the grocery store, try shopping online. Seeing the total increase with each new addition to the cart, you will realize how much you are spending.
Step 3. Don't be tempted by offers
Sometimes the idea of being able to take advantage of a discount seems to make the product irresistible. Manufacturing companies are counting precisely on consumers' inability to resist the charm of offers. It is important to resist the temptation to justify a purchase by saying it was discounted. Filling your cart with under-cost products can still lead you to spend a lot of money. The only two evaluations to make when you go shopping are: "Do I really need this product?" and "Would I still be able to meet my budget by purchasing it?".
If these questions are answered in the negative, the best thing to do will be to leave the item on the shelf, reserving that amount of money for the purchase of an item you really need, rather than one you simply want, even if it is. discounted
Step 4. Leave your credit card at home
Carry only the amount you will need for weekly purchases, based on your spending forecasts. This way you will be forced to give up unnecessary products because you will have run out of your budget.
If you don't want to give up using your credit card, pretend it's a debit card. By doing so you will have the feeling that every penny spent must necessarily be repaid by the end of the current month. Managing your credit card as if it were a debit card means avoiding using it recklessly for every purchase
Step 5. Eat at home or bring your own meal
Eating out can be very expensive, especially if you have to do it often. Initially limit yourself to having lunch or dinner out once a week, then gradually transition to just once a month. In all likelihood, by shopping at the grocery store to prepare your own meals, you will notice that your finances will benefit greatly. Also, on the occasions when you go to the restaurant you will be more inclined to enjoy the experience.
Bring your own lunch every day instead of spending a lot of money on a restaurant or bar. It will take 10 minutes, in the morning or the night before, to prepare a sandwich and a snack. In no time you will find that just bringing your own lunch will save you a fair amount of money
Step 6. Experience a "cheap fast"
Monitor your spending habits closely by limiting yourself to buying only what is strictly necessary for a period of 30 days. You will realize how little money it would take to buy only the things you need, rather than what you want.
This period of "fasting" will help you to realize what are the expenses that you consider a real necessity and which ones you evaluate instead only as a pleasant treat. In addition to the most obvious essential expenses, such as renting and purchasing food, you may decide, for example, that a gym membership can also be considered a necessity, because it allows you to keep fit by improving your level of well-being. Likewise, a weekly massage could help relieve back pain. As long as these needs are within your monthly budget, there is no reason to give them up
Step 7. Whoever does it by himself makes for three
DIY allows you to learn new skills and save money. There are a number of blogs and books that can help you build even the most expensive items on a tight budget. Instead of spending your money on buying a pre-made work of art or decorative object, why not try to reproduce it yourself? The result will be an artifact with unique characteristics, created respecting your budget.
- Websites such as Pinterest, Ispydiy and A Beautiful Mess offer tasty ideas to create some everyday objects. They also often teach how to recycle things and materials to give them a new life and a new function, avoiding you having to spend money to buy something ready.
- Try doing the housework yourself. Mow your yard yourself instead of paying someone to do it. Involve the whole family in managing outdoor chores, such as gardening, shoveling snow or cleaning the pool.
- Try making your own cleansers and cosmetics yourself. Most of these products come from a few basic ingredients, which are easily purchased in supermarkets or health food stores. Laundry detergent, common soap bars and all-purpose cleaners can all be made at home, saving you significant costs.
Step 8. Save for an important goal
Set a goal and commit to achieving it. For example, you may have a desire to take a trip to South America or to buy a new home; whatever your goal, make sure you have some cash left at the end of each month. Remind yourself that the money you have chosen not to spend on buying a new item of clothing or going out for dinner every week will help you reach a much more meaningful goal.
Part 3 of 3: Asking for Help
Step 1. Understand what the symptoms of compulsive shopping are
People with shopping syndrome are often unable to curb their urge to shop. Their expenses are mostly of an emotional nature and continue until they are physically exhausted due to the incessant passing from one shop to another; even at that point, however, they cannot help but continue to buy. Contrary to their expectations, compulsive shoppers - and often even those who shop normally - tend to feel worse and not better about themselves.
- Compulsive shopping usually affects women more than men. Usually the wardrobes of women with this syndrome contain dozens and dozens of unworn clothes, with the tag still attached. The trend is to go to a mall to buy a single item, and then return home with their hands full of shopping bags.
- Compulsive shopping is sometimes an attempt to relieve depression, anxiety, or loneliness during the holidays. Likewise, it can be used as a method of trying to overcome anger or sadness.
Step 2. Recognize the signs of compulsive shopping
Do you tend to spend irrepressibly every week? Do your expenses consistently outweigh your income?
- When you go shopping, do you get frantic and end up buying things you don't need? Do you feel a certain "euphoria" when you make numerous purchases each week?
- Analyze your credit card statement to see if there is a lot of debt with your bank. Also consider the number of your credit cards.
- Perhaps you tend to shop on the sly from your partner or family member who is worried about your habits. Or you may need to take a second part-time job to cope with the excessive purchases.
- In general, people with compulsive shopping do not want to admit the reality: therefore they tend to reject the hypothesis of having a problem and to deny their bad habits.
Step 3. See a therapist
Compulsive shopping is considered a real addiction. Receiving psychological support through a psychotherapist or support group is a great way to be able to deal with and overcome the problem.
