Mindful Spending
Happy Monday! Are you excited to dive into making your savings goal a reality?!? I know I am! You have your goal, now what? How can you make this goal a reality? Where is this money coming from??? If it were that easy to save, everyone would be able to do it, right?!
This is where mindful spending can make a huge difference. Assuming you are not able to increase your earnings at this time (although this is a GREAT way to get ahead) mindful spending is your next best bet on getting ahead.
So what exactly in mindful spending? It is a pretty simple concept where you look at every single dollar you are spending and decide what is truly a necessity and what is a want. I can assure you many of the items you are spending your money on are a want.
Lets look at what many of us are spending money on and where we can cut down.
Food
Food expenses are a huge expense for many people. Often second or third in line beyond housing and/or childcare. There are many ways to cut your food spending down.
- Cut your eating out WAY down! You can spend more on one meal than five and that is crazy!! The biggest factor in this is planning ahead. Figure out lunches you like and are easy to pack/eat at work. Make your own coffee!! Grab a couple of frozen pizza or freeze some of your favorite meals for those nights when you are too busy or too tired to cook. Budget for one night out a month and stick to it!
Convenience Items
Hello Amazon! How wonderful is it to click and boom; your item arrives the following day or two. I have a love hate relationship with my Amazon Prime Account. Love the convenience and ease, but I ended up spending money on items we definitely do not need. For example, a very handy organization box for our vitamins. Convenient, absolutely…..a need, definitely not! Before you click, imagine having that money in an account for your goal. Do you need said items or do you want to meet your goal!!??
Decor
While I do not personally have this issue, many of my friends are HomeGoods addicts! You definitely needed that cute silver reindeer or that candle holder, right?! Go through your bank/credit card statements and look at what you have spent this year at your favorite stores. Check for all those trips to Target (sigh, I love target) and ADD it up!! I guarantee there is at least $1000 of things you did not need.
Putting it all together!
Let’s do some Math. Let’s say you have a coffee and eat lunch out daily. On the lower end this is probably about $16/day. If you assume this is 5 days a week and multiply that by 52 weeks/year you have spent $4160! You still need to eat, and coffee is a need in my house so lets assume you can only cut that down by half with making your coffee and lunches at home, you could still have saved $2000 that year.
If you can go without items you are already paying for on a regular basis and allot that money towards a savings account you will begin to see a huge shift in your savings ability. What do you want more? Make that goal your priority and it will be easier to put that cute nicknack back on the shelf and be well on your way to paying off that credit card! Happy savings!
Check out more of my tips in my Money Saving Video about mindful spending 🙂