Reality check your spending
It may sound like a chore but the benefits of tracking your spending for at least 2 months a year are potentially big. Why 2 months? Because you may not feel like doing it all the time, so doing it properly for a shorter period is more realistic. And it’s enough time to see that those “once-off” expenses have a habit of reappearing in a slightly different form again and again.
What’s the upside?
So that you know what you can truly afford - avoid future financial stress by knowing your capacity to repay
To eliminate out-and-out waste - a US company called Trim helps people cut-off recurring charges by trawling through their bank account, and they report on average between 7%-30% of subscriptions get cancelled.
To optimize or consolidate - the opportunity may be in consolidating insurance in your household to a single provider in order to get discounts or directing any spare funds to your mortgage saving yourself a ton of interest.
To ensure your spending reflects your personal priorities - whether it’s a house, education, family travel or your social like, this is an opportunity to re-align your spending with your goals.
Next step = are your expenses wants or needs? Groceries are a need, eating out or ordering in may be a want. Let your spending choices be consciously made.
Want to keep your spending in check? Hack yourself with this finding from behavioural economist Dan Ariely on “The Pain of Paying”: His research explores a lovely dinner can be more enjoyable if you prepay for it rather than the bill arriving at the end of the meal. And how parting with cash is harder than a card/ digital payment method.
Here’s what he concludes:
You can use the pain of paying to your advantage – if you want to control your spending – use cash and make sure you have to part with it at the time of consumption.
On the flip side, if you want to enjoy something more – prepay and transact via card/digital or online payment – this disassociates the two in our heads. You may just be hacking yourself but it works!