Chances are you are going to spend money this week. I mean seriously we are being realistic here, and plenty of us will be spending money this week.
The problem begins when we start spending money, our debt starts growing, and somehow, we feel stressed and broke!
Believe it or not, we waste money, and some of us don’t even know that we overspend cash on a daily basis.
Think about it for a minute. Ever heard this?
“I am too broke to save money.”
Or
“I can’t afford to save money.”
Household debt is growing, and it's on the rise! Our economy is doing well, and people forget about the 2008 recession.
I remember how hard it was for many of us financially, and to be honest, I had no savings or anything.
But that has changed, we have changed and will not go back to that, right? Did we learn our lesson?
Check these facts out!
In 2017, it was reported that consumer debt rose to $12.73 trillion and this amount exceeded the third quarter of 2008.
During the 2017 holiday season, American spent billions of dollars and major retailers that were struggling during the year saw a significant increase in sales.
Debt is increasing, and people are spending, yet in 2017 57% of Americans don’t even have $1000 in their savings accounts!
My friend, the bubble is going to burst sooner or later. It has happened many times throughout our lifetime, and it is bound to repeat.
I learned my lesson from last time, did you?
The good news is that right now the economy is strong and we can fix our finances and start saving more.
We can reduce our debt and save more by learning how to stop wasting money, and we can do this starting this week.
Now we know that it will take more than a week to fix your financial issues. We know this, but we can start by analyzing your spending habits and reducing your spending one week at a time.
Think about it for a minute. You need to analyze the reason you are struggling financially. You need to find out where your money is going every day!
Are you overspending on food?
At the end of the week, you will start understanding and learning about your spending and start doing this each week until you create a system that will prevent you from wasting money on things that don’t matter and help you get your finances on track.
So, let’s talk about these tips that you can start doing this week to help you stop spending money.
Understand your spending
You have to understand the reason you have no money left or finding out why you are broke by the end of the week.
For example, I am an emotional spender. I spend when I’m happy, and I spend when I am sad. During the holiday I can be suckered into wasting tons of money and buying gifts for anyone and everyone.
You need to understand what triggers you to overspend money on things you don’t need. Is it peer pressure? Is it to afford your lifestyle?
Once you understand why you are spending money during that week, you will need to start writing it down because tracking your spending will help you fix your finances, and this is the next tip.
Check out these posts:
- 6 Incredible Monthly Money Challenges
- 3 Quick and Painless Tips to Save $50 Per Week
- 8 Tips On How To Not Spend Money This Month
Keep a record of your spending
As much as I hated doing this when I am going through a strict money challenge, I keep records of my spending.
I started keeping records of our daily spending, and you know what, by two weeks I was able to see where my money was going and what my triggers were.
Now, when we say keep a record of your spending, we mean all your spending not just big purchase but smaller purchases too.
Spent money buying coffee or buying fast food, those transactions must be written down. You can do it at the end of the week, or you can write them down daily so you won’t forget about them.
Keeping track of your daily spending is going to show you facts that you might not like and help you reduce your weekly spending.
Change the way you spend money
Let’s talk about how you use your money for a minute. I know this might sound confusing but hear me out.
When you pay for things, do you use a credit card or debit card? Or do you use good old cash?
If you are having a hard time keeping your money and a hard time wasting money, then you might need to change the way you use it.
How do we change the way we use our money?
Simple, we use cash!
Here are my reasons why my friends. Obviously, using a card is causing you to spend more money. And I am pretty sure that you are not even keeping track of your spending.
When you use a credit card, you will spend more vs. when you use cash. It’s a proven fact, my friends.
Starting this week, use the cash envelop system and by the end of the week keep track of how much you have left in your envelope.
But before you even start messing with the cash envelope system read the next tip!
Related posts:
- 5 Things To Avoid During A Recession
- How to Make SNAP Benefits Last Longer
- Signs You Spend Too Much Money on Food
Use a budget
How do you expect to take charge of your finances if you no budget to help you? If you are new to budgeting or never created a personal budget, that is OK!
I created my first budget later in life because I seriously didn’t know I needed a budget and never even tried to attempt to create a budget.
Think of a budget as a blueprint, a financial blueprint; you will need to work towards expenses, savings, and eliminating debt.
With a budget, you get to control your money, not the other way around.
At this time in order to control your money you need to create a budget, there are no questions about that.
Trying to skip the budget tip you might as well not bother fixing your finances if you are not going to figure out where your money is going.
Now to the next tip!
Accountability for your actions and your money
At the end of the week, you are going to look back at the week and go over your spending and your savings.
You are going to ask yourself what are you going to do better and change the following week. Remember to be HONEST!
Accountability and why this is so important. Now, accountability doesn’t mean its bad nor has to be a negative thing. It is a way for you to look at what went wrong and change it!
What can you do better next week?
What challenge will be going on next week that might trigger you to overspend?
So, the if your first week was either too good or if you failed at keeping up with your weekly financial goals, guest what is going happen?
You are going to try the following week again!
You see, people fail at their goals because they were never committed to them. If you are committed to taking charge of your finances, you will take this weekly no spending challenge and do it again the following week.
We failed at budgeting but kept going, and we did it. Baby steps my friend!
Starting to control your spending is just the beginning for you.
I know more will be required when it comes to financial freedom, but if overspending your money thanks to everyday bad money habits are one of the leading issues, then there’s a chance you will reduce your spending tackling it one week at a time.
Conclusion
The five tips talked in here is a start to conquering your financial journey. It won’t be easy and though it might seem like a week might not be challenging it might not be.
Trying to do this challenge for at least a month and learning about your money habits might be what you need to get our finances in order.
If you are ready for these 7 days challenge to get control of your spending, you have to be committed.
Being interest in this challenge will not cut it. It’s not about reducing your spending in seven days, to prove something.
Being committed to taking control of your finances by not only doing this challenge for a week for until it changes your spending, is what this is all about.
Continuing to do this challenge until you see a new habit and seeing results is the main point.
If this challenge is what you need to cut back your spending, the 7 Days No Spending Challenge Workbook might be what you need.
7 Days No Spending Challenge Workbook
This workbook has 13 pages to guide you and keep track of your challenge for a week. The 7 Days No Spending Challenge Workbook is what you need if you want to kick your spending habits to the curb.
The 7 Days No Spending Challenge Workbook contains:
- Daily Goals – Help you start your day and your spending on track
- Weekly Expense Tracker – Calculate your expenses for the week
- Weekly budget – Break your budget into weeks and keep track of your income
- A Daily Expense Tracker – At the end of the day keep track of your daily expenses
- No Spending To Do List – This sheet will help you and remind you of why you are doing this
- Weekly Meal Planner – To help you keep track of your grocery expenses and help you save time and money in the kitchen
- And more
Now, because I want you to have a prosperous 2019 when you purchase the workbook, you will receive the 2019 Budget Binder for free.
2020 Budget Binder
The 2019 Budget Binder is a 35 page digital printable you will add a binder to help you kick debt to the curve. This binder along with the notebook will guide you to reduce your money spending this week.
Also, with the binder, you will find cash envelop printable that you can use to cash envelopes to with your cash envelope system. This will help you save money on envelopes.
Now, this is a great investment that will help us overspenders take control of our finances this year. If you are committed to reducing your spending then this bundle is for you.
