Seemingly Small Spending Habits That Could Cost You in the Long Term

Have you ever experienced those days when you suddenly get all confused and lost as to where your monthly allowance or savings went? Then you open your wallet and check your bank account only to find out that you barely have enough to get by until your next paycheck. The hard truth about small spending is that they accumulate, rather quickly that you don't even get to notice!

More often than not, these seemingly small spending habits go unchecked. Single- or double-digit costs often seem too insignificant for most people to take note of or pay attention to. Especially when the prices are looked at individually per day of purchase.

For example, you may ask yourself, what bad would a $2-dollar-cup-of-coffee purchase do to your budget? It’s just $2 anyway compared to the $150 that you just saved from not buying that home espresso machine on sale which you’ve been eyeing for weeks. That’s all well and good, we guess. But when these “small spending” become more of a recurrent habit, chances are you’ll wake up one day only to realize that you had already spent a total of $200 on coffee in just eight months!

And it’s not just coffee. In this current age, these “small spending” habits which often result in overspending could be about anything. A $1-purchase for that donut you land your eyes on on your way to the grocery store, a recently bought remaindered copy of a book, a small bottle of essential oil, or perhaps an unnecessary cab ride when you could have rather taken a walk home. When these costs accumulate, the amount could actually be more than what you were expecting to spend in a specific time frame.

Most people try to pin it on their lack of discipline or inability to resist their urges. But the thing is, it’s really just their lack of effort to double-check their expenses. There are actually a lot of strategies that can help you to not be blinded again. The key is to always track your spending. Separating your bills daily, installing an app that tracks your expenditures, carefully planning a list of the things you only need to buy, or simply setting a number on the amount you’re allowed to spend on your “binges”, are some of the effective ways to do this. The goal is to see where your money goes and how it is spent on a daily, weekly, monthly, and even annual basis. Taking such preemptive and proactive measures ensures that you never overspend on anything unworthy ever again as it helps you determine the things that are worth investing in and those that are not.

So, the next time you want another pick-me-up snack or an “I-deserve-this” mani-pedi at the salon, you may want to consider taking a look at your tracker first!

Talk to Carolina Money Minders Today