Six bad financial habits that are keeping you from saving money
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/6-bad-financial-habits-that-are-keeping-you-from-saving-money/ss-BB1fwp1Q
by Deb Hipp
1.You don’t have a plan
If your strategy for building emergency savings is “Whenever I have extra money, I’ll deposit it in my savings account,” it is no wonder that your emergency savings has never exceeded a few hundred bucks. Plenty of people do not have enough money to pay monthly bills right now, let alone extra funds they do not know what to do with.
If you want to build emergency savings, it is time to make a plan to regularly deposit money in savings each month. Set an achievable savings goal – $1,000, for example – as the initial amount you would like to reach. Do not make your initial savings goal so ambitious you get frustrated along the way. You can always adjust once you meet your first goal.
2. You have no budget
Without a clear idea of where your money is going, you will not get far when it comes to designating a monthly amount for emergency savings. Creating a budget may seem intimidating, but you will be pleasantly surprised at how easy – and even fun – creating a monthly budget can be with all the online tools out there.
For example, you may want to use one of the many budgeting apps available to create a budget and track where your money goes. For example, Mint is a free budgeting app that also links to your bank and credit card accounts to track spending.
3. You are not taking advantage of automatic payroll deductions
Just think how painless it would be to deposit money into an emergency savings if you did not have to do it yourself. Chances are, you would barely miss $50, $100 (or even more if you can afford it) from each paycheck.
If you have not signed up with your employer for automatic withdrawals into your savings account, do it now. You will reach your savings goal much faster.
4. Dining out too much
We all enjoy the convenience of takeout or a night at a restaurant but if you dine out several times a week, you are probably blowing through anywhere between $400 to $1,000 a month, depending on how fancy or frequent you like your dining experience.
Try going on a dining-out fast for a month while cooking at home and deposit the money you would have spent going out to eat in emergency savings instead. At the end of the month, you may be so impressed with how much you saved that cutting back on dining out becomes a regular habit.
5. Paying fees
You may not pay attention to all those ATM fees, cash advance fees and maybe occasional credit card late fees, but they add up fast. If you need to withdraw cash, visit the ATM at your bank to avoid a fee. As for cash advances, it is a good idea to avoid those altogether, since those transactions carry an array of fees and higher interest rates than regular credit card purchases.
6. Hanging out with big spenders
If you are running around with people who love to charge meals at expensive restaurants, get cash advances from ATMs and bounce from club to club every night, you are going to spend a fortune right along with them.
No one is saying you have to ditch your good-time friends. But while trying to save money, it is a good idea to cut back on the time you spend on entertainment and dining out and sock that money away in emergency savings instead.
One more, from me: You spend too much time “escaping” from life
Most people have therapeutic escapes, which most often show themselves as our hobbies. Many hobbies are rather expensive, but even those that lack up-front costs rear their ugly head in the form of lost time. If you spend 2-3 hours a day or more on a hobby, whether it is sports, gaming, shopping, social media, etc., do not be surprised when you do not advance beyond your status quo. These lost hours add up into lost opportunities and lost money. The solution is the same as others on the list: make a plan, budget your time. Every 15 minutes is 1% of our day, so plan thoughtfully.
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