• Home
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Contact
  • Policy
  • Guest Post
  • Archive

One Cent At A Time

A Personal finance blog to get rich

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Beautiful Life
  • Becoming Rich
  • Beginners Guide
  • Extra Income
  • Productivity
  • Saving Money

How to Shake Those Bad Money Habits So You Can Meet Your Financial Goals

September 1, 2020 2 Comments

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email

Bad money habits plague so many of us, and it’s not hard to see why. In a world where four out of five people live paycheck to paycheck, it’s easy to spend more than you can afford.

How to Shake Those Bad Money Habits So You Can Meet Your Financial Goals

The negative beliefs you carry about money from childhood play a role in how your spending habits have developed, too — as does the dopamine thrill you get when you make a new purchase.

If your spending habits are getting in the way of your financial goals, it’s time to take control.

Break the habits that are holding you back, and replace them with good money habits that can help you, instead.

Know What Habits You Want to Break

Before you start adjusting your spending, you need to know what money habits you absolutely have to break.

Impulse buying, spending too much money on drinking and eating out, compulsive shopping, and more can all deplete your bank accounts over and over again.

Take a look around your home.

Examine your bank account and credit statements. Talk to your partner.

Identify the spending habits that are undermining your goals the most and write them down.

Develop Good Habits Instead

Go down your list of bad spending habits and work on them one at a time.

For each habit you want to change, replace it with a good habit.

If you tend to do online shopping while waiting for someone, read a book instead.

If you tend to seek retail therapy when you’re stressed, try going to the gym instead.

As each new habit starts to feel natural and the old habits recede, move on to the next bad habit on your list.

Don’t try to tackle too many bad habits at once, though — you’re a work in progress, and you should give yourself time to grow.

Give Yourself Goals to Work Toward

Saving for specific, concrete goals makes more sense than saving for the sake of having more money in the bank.

Knowing your saving for an emergency fund, a new car, or a house downpayment (or all three!) can give you the motivation you need to resist impulse purchases and other bad spending decisions.

Remember, small purchases add up.

Use a Budget

If you’re trying to change your spending habits, you need some quantifiable metrics by which to judge your progress.

A monthly budget can help you see where all your money is going and prioritize spending, so all of your needs are met and you can still work towards your goals.

Cultivate Patience and Gratitude

Advice to curb spending by improving your attitude might sound a little New Age-y, but given how closely our spending habits can be tied to our emotional state, it makes sense to avoid emotional spending by working on improving our emotional lives.

Cultivating patience, for example, can help you avoid impulse buying.

Even forcing yourself to wait 24 hours before making a purchase can help you avoid impulse spending, either because you’ve forgotten about the product just as quickly as you learned of its existence, or because you’ve had time to talk yourself out of it or just lost interest.

If you can manage to wait a few days between feeling that flash of desire to make an impulsive purchase and actually carrying it out, you can be much more sure that you’ll actually want the things you do buy.

Gratitude can also help curb unnecessary spending — writing down a few things you’re grateful for each day can improve your overall emotional well-being.

You’ll be less interested in shopping for the dopamine rush, and more satisfied with what you already have, so less likely to seek fulfillment and happiness through acquiring more things.

Bad money habits can keep you from meeting any of your financial goals — if you don’t reign them in. Take control of your poor spending habits now, so you can enjoy the fruits of your self-work in the years and decades to come.

LIKE THIS POST?
I agree to have my personal information transfered to MailChimp ( more information )
Join our community of 8000+ subscribers to increase your net worth and build wealth
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.

Share this:

  • Tweet
  • Email
The tool that changed the way I manage my personal finance - Personal Capital, The Best Free Personal Finance Tool

Want to start a WordPress blog now? The onecentatatime.com blog is hosted by Siteground Web Hosting. For only $3.95 a month, Siteground can help you set up and host your website/blog quickly and easily.

About the Blogger Hi I am SB, a personal finance enthusiast with a career in software development. I am an immigrant to the USA since 2005, after being born and brought up in India. This 40 something technocrat lives and breathes personal finance whenever he gets time from the day job, job as a husband and a dad

Some links on this page may be affiliate links, if you make a purchase following the links, I may earn a commission. Read affiliate disclosure here
« Should I Take Out an Online Personal Loan to Pay Off Debt?
7 Ways to Finance Your Home Redesign on a Budget »

Comments

  1. Fred says

    September 13, 2020 at 10:14 AM

    Good statistic, 4 out of 5 people live paycheque to paycheque. Another way to help, albeit an extreme way, is to not bring your credit card or debit card with you and simply only bring a limited amount of cash, for an emergency, or possibly no cash unless you plan to buy something and then the perfect amount of cash. This will help you from making impulse purchases and allowing you to wait the 24 hours as stated above. Of course, if you purchase a lot on the internet then this method doesn’t work but you could re-look at what you buy on the internet and see if you actually need to buy anything that way and stop purchasing from the internet.

    Also, it is said to take 21 days to break or create a new habit so when you do what is suggested work hard to keep it up for 21 days!

    Reply
  2. Mark Kindred says

    October 12, 2020 at 12:34 PM

    Thanks for sharing this information. It’s hard holding back from spending when you have for so long. I will follow this and see how it fits in my life. Thanks again.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.



Create your own blog in 20 minutes and $20

Personal Capital, a free tool to change your financial health today

I use and suggest Upstart, for your personal loan need

CreditKarma, a free tool to check your credit scorey

I use Coinbase, for my crypto investments

101 Cents at a Time

101 Ways to Earn Extra Money on the Side
201 Frugal and Perfect Birthday Gifts
101 Ways to Save Money Everyday
101 Ways to be Better and Successful at Work
101 Ways to Save Environment and Energy
101 Frugal and Romantic Anniversary Ideas
101 Low-Cost Men's Fashion Ideas
101 Personal Finance Tips
101 Ways to Reuse Household Stuff
101 Things to Do, When Nothing to Do
101 College Graduation Gift Ideas
100 Tips for Ecommerce Startup
101 Ways to Enjoy Indoor During Winter
101 Ways to Beat Procrastination

Popular Posts

Quick Cash - How to make $100 legally, in a day
Living well on less than $15,000 a Year
Top survey sites for side income
What to do when auto repair goes wrong
Where should I invest my money now?
20 Ways to be productive and happy at work
51 Ways to get out of debt
Be a better person in 15 days, 15 ways
Income ideas for retirees and senior citizens
51 side jobs for college students
Urgently need a large amount of money?
Should I buy or should I rent?
Best Personal loan providers
25 Ways to save environment
25 DIY car repairs to save money
How to decorate office cubicle
How to show your wife you care
50 Financial Rules for Success
51 Frugal weekend family activity ideas
Become Rich By Saving 1 Hour Of Daily Wage
How much do I need to save for retirement?
How to negotiate your salary

Follow us on FaceBook

About Author

SB

Blogger by choice and IT manager by profession. Finance is my passion and gardening is my greatest satisfaction. Born in India, settled in US, Husband and a father. I created this blog in 2011 with a vision to help others. Thanks for your patronage. More info on my "about" page.

View all posts


Subscribe

Join our community of 5000+ subscribers to increase net worth and build wealth

Advertisements

Personal Stories

How I got a new HP computer replaced
Was COVID circulating in USA in fall of 2019?
How my credit score went up 800+
Why I didn’t invest in Bitcoins
How I controlled impulses to buy things
Why this blog is named One Cent at a Time

Subscribe via Email

Site Disclaimer

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in this web site are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Read full Affiliate disclosure


One Cent at a Time is published by SB. The opinions expressed herein by him are his own and not those of his employer or anyone else. All content on One Cent at a Time is for entertainment purposes only. By reading this blog, you agree that SB and/or One Cent at a Time is not responsible for any actions taken after reading this blog. For the full disclaimer, click here .

Major Media Mention

One Cent at a Time Media Appearances

Copyright © 2023 One Cent At A Time · Designed by Nuts and Bolts Media