[ad_1]
Like most people in their early 30s, I have committed a good chunk of financial mistakes in their twenties. To take debts to make emotional financial decisions, I have done a lot of things wrong. However, I learned from my mistakes and I am better for this today. Here are some of the worst financial habits I've managed to break at 30 years old.
1. Emotional expenses
After going bankrupt in my early twenties, I found myself in a comfortable financial situation in my twenties. I had a full time job with benefits and a secondary business generating substantial income. My student loans were repaid and for the first time in my life, I was in financial security. But I did not feel different … until I started to spend.
At one level, spending money made me feel that I had money. The good things I have bought have become physical manifestations of my success. There is also something rebaduring about buying things and knowing that you can pay your credit card at the end of the month. So I started doing it and seeing my disposable income go down.
Finally, the thrill of the purchase went down and I realized that I needed to find another way to use my income wisely while feeling like I was reaping the fruits of my hard work. I started investing my income, contributing more to my 401 (k) and limiting my purchases to the essentials.
2. Useless shopping
In my 20 years, I spent a lot of time shopping online, just to pbad the time. I was watching videos on YouTube of 19-year-old beauty vloggers extolling the virtues of the products that they were getting for free and telling me, "It makes perfect sense to own nine mascaras." In my free time, I read listicles and ended up with useless boxes of tchotchkes arriving after nocturnal orders on Amazon.
The solution? No more shopping. I canceled my Amazon Prime account and decided that I would not buy more beauty products until I had exhausted my existing stock.
I also took a more strategic approach when it came to buying the necessary items. I created a spreadsheet containing all the essentials I needed throughout the year (shampoo, soap, sunscreen, etc.). Then I drew up the inventory of what I already had and decided the next time these items would go on sale plus the rest of the year.
I've saved hundreds of dollars through sales, mobile app offers and even AmEx offers. By limiting myself to buying the essentials wholesale, I have limited my impulse buying habits and saved hundreds of dollars in basic necessities.
As for clothing, I have a strict rule: the only way to add something new in my closet, is if an equivalent article comes out. This freed up space in the closets and prevented the acquisition of more things that I do not need.
3. Do not invest in my health
During a particularly stressful work period, I abandoned the afternoon desserts for the benefit of Pilates. I would spend 15 dollars to make the day more bearable was much better spent working for an hour. I felt physically stronger and mentally better equipped to cope with stress. I discovered that investing in my health was a great alternative to retail therapy. It was a small luxury that paid off in the long run.
4. Do not track my expenses
Like many young people in their twenties, I had illusions about my financial situation. One of those illusions was that I did not need a budget because I was perfectly thrifty. The fact that I did not have much left over at the end of the pay period was due to the fact that I did not earn enough, not because I was spending unnecessarily.
I started writing each article that I bought for a week and started shaking. Two daily coffees, a sandwich for the daily breakfast, $ 20 dinners, and sometimes a drive-thru dinner add to that. I spent at least $ 40 a day eating out of the restaurant unnecessarily. Of course, I thought I could spend more in this category because I was very thrifty about the rest. But as the stack of Amazon Prime boxes on my door showed, that was not true either.
I started using the Mint app to track all my credit card expenses. This would allow me to keep an eye on my purchases, without forcing them all to use a single credit card. Being able to maximize my expenses by taking advantage of bonuses in the credit card category is an important part of my winning points strategy. Mint helps me stay on top.
5. Terrible (and unnecessary) eating habits
The first step I took was to cut my breakfast breakfast sandwich at $ 7. Instead, I opted for a healthier cup of oatmeal at night. It was cheaper, it was good and it gave me a lot more energy throughout the day.
My habit of twice-a-day iced coffee was neither satisfying nor healthy. More than once, I was having a cold iced coffee and threw it after a few sips because it had an acidic taste that day or the ice melted and diluted the coffee too much. The solution? I started buying 32-ounce bottles of Starbucks cold beverage and a bottle of sweet cream, leaving them in the refrigerator at work. I took my daily coffee at a fraction of the price.
I still spend between $ 15 and $ 20 a day most days, but the dinners with driving were easy enough to cut once I made healthier food choices during the day. In addition, when you are taking a Pilates clbad at 6 pm, the last thing you want is to eat a 1000 calorie meal. My food costs have been reduced significantly without negative impact on my health or happiness.
6. Do not set goals
Finally, I realized that most of my financial problems in my twenties stemmed from the lack of goals. Of course, I was determined to repay my student loans, but after graduating in a recession, the purchase of a house was not on my to-do list and the idea of saving for retirement (seeing it go up in smoke) was not a motivating thought. Once I started setting myself goals, I had something precious to back up.
A blogger advised me to create a separate savings account and name it according to the use of funds (ie "Holidays", "home", "business" ", etc.). Giving the account a real name that matches its purpose limits the temptation to transfer funds. Because you are not simply withdrawing money from your savings account, you are deducting it from your vacation fund, renovation reserve, and so on.
At one point, I had bad advice: "Do not spend less, earn more!" This is a great way to burn out and not enjoy life. Human needs are infinite but the ability to satisfy them is limited. So, rather than working harder to pay for those iced coffees and those useless products that I threw away every day, I decided to spend less (and smarter). The end result was less waste and a happier and more balanced lifestyle.
Looking for a high yield savings account that will help your money grow? Consider these offers from our partners:
Source link
