How a money journal can help curb your spending

By monitoring your spending patterns over a few months, you can identify your weaknesses and formulate a plan of action to address them.

Here are a few ways you can get started on creating a money journal:

  1. Are you making too many ATM withdrawals per month?

    By limiting withdrawals and making point-of-sale purchases you can save quite a bit on bank charges.

  2. Do you most spend more on luxuries and frivolous things on the weekend or just after pay day?

    By being aware of this, you can make a conscious effort to limit ATM withdrawals and purchases over this period. If you are tempted to purchase an item, force yourself to postpone the purchase until the following week. Perhaps by the following week, the item will no longer seem that necessary.

  3. How much do you spend at those end of season sales?

    Most people tend to buy unnecessary items, just because it’s “on sale”. If this is your weakness, then only attend a sale when you have a need for a specific item.

    Remember that with unnecessary spending, you have the downside of feeling guilty afterwards whereas with saving, there is no downside!