Do you ever spend impulsively or spontaneously? Most people do. This creates ongoing financial problems.
I have a friend who spent impulsively for a couple of years on credit cards. She did not pay close attention to the monthly statements…she just paid the minimum payments and continued in her ways. The day came when she could no longer afford the minimum monthly payments. She knew she had to face the truth. She feared that she may have charged up to $40,000 on the credit cards. After adding them up, she discovered she had spent over $100,000!
How could she spend over $100,000 while assuming she had spent around $40,000? She was not paying attention. Even when she knew she was a bit out of control, she did not want to know the truth. She “buried her head in the sand” hoping the problem would go away. It did not. It got worse.
Though her problem is larger than most, a similar thing happens to most people. We spend money without paying attention. We end up burying our head in the sand and hoping the problem”self corrects”. It does not.
To overcome impulsive spending, it is important to become aware of your spending patterns and decisions. The simplest way to do this is to track your spending.
This process is simple and takes very little time. Keep a small notebook or journal with you at all times. I use a small composition book that I purchased from an office supply store for around $1.00 (it fits in my right back pocket and goes with me everywhere). Every time you spend money, write it down in the journal. Place the date, amount, and what was purchased.
As you continue in this process, you will become aware of the truth. Many do not want to know the truth but “the truth will set you free”!
Some say to track your expenses for 30 days. I encourage you to track them for the rest of your life. Once it becomes a habit, it is not hard. It is easy. And when you use this information properly it helps you to get control of your money.
I will show you how to use this information in the next post.
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We use an envelope (like you taught us in your conference at Mobberly Baptist in Longview, Tx. in 07?) to place our monthly reciepts. This allows us to keep a running tab of our monthly expenses on the front of the envelope. It helps us clearly see our monthly expenses and where we need to cut back if necessary.
We love you website and comments from others. They are so helpful and encouraging to us…”…and let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds…let us encourage one another…” Hebrews 10: 24,25 NIV Quest
Thank you and God Bless your day with joy,
It is so easy to overspend. I have started using a debit card and
when I get home, I enter each shopping register in my check book.
That seems to help me stay within my means. Thanks for the
weekly updates. GOD bless you as you travel and share these
tips. Faye Edwards
Yes, many thanks for the Friday Freebies! I am passing these along to people who cannot afford internet service at this time. You are right on with accepting the “truth” in spending. Keep ‘em coming!! The Lord’s Blessings upon you and your household.
After 12 years of just paying bills, saving nothing, and getting further into debt..(even with conservative spending)…we have finally found a great spending organizer we love. It’s mint.com. For us, we were just never good at realizing how much we really needed to live each month..we were making guestimations. Now both my husband and I can get online and see just how much we’ve spent of our “fast food” budget, how much we’re really spending on “groceries”, and everything else. We’ve creating a spending allowing for every possible category. I wish we had had this years ago.
Of course, sometime it takes getting to this place to realize your mistakes, and realize how valuable time is….and how easy it is to WASTE time and money!! No more. We can’t wait to be out of debt be ahead, and actually watch our money multiply in the right direction. (wish I could back up 12 years)
Dear Bruce Thank you and God bless you and yours. I have a money management plan that might work for some. My wife and I use a credit card for every purchase and on every Friday we take the reciepts and write them down in the check book just like they were a check and subtract each from our total line by line. YOU HAVE TO BE VIGILANT THAT YOU DO NOT SPEND MORE THAN WHAT IS IN YOUR CHECKING ACCOUNT ! When the bill comes in we write a check for the entire amount, and use a colored pencil for that statemennt ,and color each line in the check book that corresponds to each charge on the statement. This eliminates these lines when you ballance your check book, you skip the colored ones when you ballance. You can pay the full amount because the money has been in your account for the whole month. We only use the cash back credit cards and average forty dollars a month cash back in our pockets. It takes dicipline.
I have always tried to just use my debit card. It keeps me from over spending because although it is like using cash I dislike the feel of pulling out a “plastic” card. I subconciously feel like it is a credit card. Hence I limit my extra spending considerably. Thanks for all your updates. Susan Routhier
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