Do you find yourself accumulating a bigger balance on your credit card every month? Are your closets, drawers, and cabinets overflowing because you keep buying things you do not need? Do you take a nervous look at your bank account balance a few days before each paycheck and wonder where all the money went? Is it common for you to go to the store for one item and find yourself coming home with ten? Each of these can be signs that you have an overspending habit, where you spend more than you can afford. Overspending can cripple you financially and hold you back from reaching your long-term financial goals, but the good news is that you do not have to resign yourself to chronic overspending. Tips to Break Bad Spending Habits
  1. Get on the same page with your significant other. If you are married and manage your money together, your individual efforts may not be able to change your joint finances if your spouse just spends the money instead. Sit down together to talk about your spending habits, and resolve to work together to cure any overspending habits you discover.

  2. Track your spending, so you know how bad your habits are. It is hard to solve a problem if you do not even know you have a problem. If you suspect you’ve been overspending, keep a log of all spending for a week, or even better, a month. Note what you bought and how much it cost, and then add up categories at the end of your week or month. You may be shocked to learn how much you are spending on clothes, coffee, fast food, electronic gadgets, gifts, or other items that fuel your habitual overspending.

  3. Decide what you would rather be spending on. It helps to have a tangible financial goal to focus on when you have the urge to spend on things that are going to block you from reaching your goal. You may decide you want to pay off a credit card, build an emergency fund, get on track with retirement savings, save for a house, or take a dream vacation. Once you set your sights on a specific goal, it is easier to cure your overspending habit because every dollar you spend takes a dollar away from your goal. Remind yourself of this by writing your goal down and putting it in your wallet where you see it each time you buy something.

  4. Budget how much you will spend in each category. It is often difficult to go cold turkey and stop spending entirely, and some amount of spending can be appropriate for your lifestyle and helpful for your mood and well-being. Therefore, decide how much you would like to be spending in each category of purchases. You can budget these amounts per month or pay period, depending on what makes more sense to you.

  5. Use cash so you can’t overspend. Swiping a card is far too easy, and you might spend more than you intended to in a category without even realizing it. Once you have a budgeted spending allowance, withdraw this money in cash and put it in a special place, like an envelope or a designated coin pouch. When the cash runs out, don’t spend any more on that type of purchase until you get your next allowance at the beginning of the month or after your next paycheck comes in.

  6. Check in regularly to track your progress. Even if you think you have a foolproof budgeting system that will keep you from overspending, you may find ways to cheat, like saving up your spare change and using it to fuel your spending addiction. Every few months, spend a week tracking your actual spending of every penny to make sure you are not letting continued bad habits go unnoticed.

  7. Compete with a friend for support and accountability. It is always helpful to have someone you can talk to about your spending habits and goals, and a friend who is in the same boat as you can be the perfect person. Compare notes on a regular basis to see how you are doing, and maybe even set up a friendly competition to see who can cut their spending more. Plus, when you have a friend who is trying to cut spending too, you can find inexpensive ways to hang out together, which helps you both achieve your goals.

Curing Bad Overspending Habits

View Resource Curing Bad Overspending Habits
You cannot escape it. There are times when you have to make a major purchase. Maybe your daughter wants to play the drums in the elementary school band. You’ll need to buy a drum set. Maybe your dishwasher is leaving pieces of lasagna on your plates. It is time for a new one. Alternatively, maybe that living room sofa has more holes than fabric. You need to update your furniture. Major purchases are a hassle because they cost so much. They can put a crimp on your household budget. However, if you are smart, you do not have to let these drain your wallet. Research Before you make your major purchase, it is time to do your research. Don’t just run out to the store. Instead, search online for drum sets, couches or dishwashers. This gives you a chance to get a range of prices. You might find that low-end dishwashers will cost you around $300 while those on the high range will run up to $1,000. Once you know this range, you can decide where you’d like your new appliance to fit on this scale. Next, determine the purpose of the new item you need. Is your daughter just starting with the drums? Then you might want to purchase a lower-end or used set. There’s no guarantee that she’ll stick with the instrument. If she has already been playing for years, though, you might want to invest in a costlier, and higher-quality, set. Save You hope to avoid putting your pricey purchase on your credit card. You also do not want to dip into an emergency fund. The best approach is to save steadily for the item. The best way to do this is to automate your savings. Determine how much money you want to allocate to your major purchase each month. Then set up an account with your bank or credit union. Automate your savings, so that the financial institution will automatically transfer money from your checking account to your savings account. It is best to create a separate account for these dollars; that way, you will not be as tempted to dip into the savings for other purchases. Comparison shopping You might not like to shop. You also might love it. However, regardless of how you feel, you’ll need to do some comparison shopping before you buy your big-ticket item. That is because retailers run sales throughout the year. A TV might be $600 at one store and $400 at another on the same day. If you do not spend some time shopping, you’ll never know. Be careful when comparison shopping though. Sometimes the cheapest version of that laptop, dishwasher or tablet computer is not the best. You might think you are saving money, but maybe you are just buying a product that will break down months after your purchase. To make sure that you find the best product at your price range, take to the Internet. You’ll be able to find countless customer reviews on a broad range of Web sites. These reviews will tell you whether the product you are considering is a winner or a loser.

Making a Major Purchase

View Resource Making a Major Purchase
Ever wonder how much you spend at the convenience store down the street? Just how much you are spending there each month on apples, donuts and milk? Alternatively, how about at the coffee shop that’s on your way to work each morning? The odds are good that you have no idea how much you spend on these discretionary purchases each month. Sure, you probably know that you spend too much on them. However, you probably don’t know how much is too much. This is where it gets handy to track your spending. It gives you a clear picture of where you are spending your dollars each month. It also provides you with clues as to why you seem to break your household budget month after month. Tracking your spending is not always the most enjoyable activity. It can even prove embarrassing depending upon where you are spending the majority of your dollars. However, tracking is also an important step toward getting your spending under control. You cannot curb your overspending if you do not first know where your dollars are going. The benefits The main reason to track your spending? It is an excellent way to change bad, and costly, habits. For instance, you might discover that you’ve spent more than $500 in fast-food and carry-out purchases. That is a significant amount of unnecessary spending. Much of that money could have been put to better uses. If you even saved just $100 of that dining-out money in an interest-yielding savings vehicle, just think of how much better off you’d be financially. Once you track your spending, you’ll be able to recognize and change these bad habits. Maybe instead of wasting money on a fast-food hamburger on the way home from work, you’ll instead eat the leftover spaghetti in your refrigerator. We often think of ourselves as having no control over our money. When you track every cent that you spend, though, you are the one who gains control. You learn where your money goes, and you gain the knowledge you need to make better spending decisions. How to track Financial experts agree if you decide to track your spending, track it down to the last penny. That may seem like a challenge. However, it is the only way to understand where your money goes each month. It is too easy to forget those five candy bar buys during a month. If you write down each of these $2 purchases, you’ll see just how much money you are spending on sweets each month. The best method for tracking spending is the one that works best for you. For some, the old-fashioned pen-and-notebook approach works best. When you make a purchase, you just open your notebook and jot down what you spent and what you spent it on. Others might prefer to enter their spending each night in a text or Word file on their computer, while others might choose the spreadsheet route. Others might track their daily spending using an app on their smartphone or tablet. The tools that you use to track your spending do not matter. Tracking it does. After you make a purchase, ask for a receipt. This is important. If you do not get a receipt, you might forget what you bought. You’d be surprised at how quickly this can happen, especially with small purchases. At the end of the day, gather your receipts. Then write them down, either electronically or with pen and paper. If you do not want to do this every day, then resolve to write down your spending at least every week. The longer you go without writing down your purchases, the more likely you are to abandon your efforts to track your spending. You might also lose several receipts, leaving you with an inaccurate picture of your spending habits. Once you start tracking your spending, you’ll likely be surprised how much you spend and where you have opportunities to save. Saving three dollars a day on coffee can mean hundreds of dollars in your pocket. Saving five dollars a day by bringing your lunch to work can mean even more. The lesson here? Your dollars might be going to unexpected places. If you do not track spending, though, you’ll never know why you are short on cash each month.

Tracking what You Spend

View Resource Tracking what You Spend
Those new running shoes look tempting, and they are on sale. Alternatively, maybe you are tired after work and you would rather order a pizza than cook a meal. Maybe you’ve been working hard all week, and a movie and dinner out on Saturday seems like a good reward. There’s nothing inherently wrong with these purchases. However, if they lead you to go over your household budget for the month, then these purchases can derail your financial health. Overspending on discretionary buys scuttles more than a few household budgets. Also, that overspending can add up to significant debts or lost opportunities over time. Here’s a look at how easy it is for overspending to derail a budget. Costly coffee? Each month you hang your budget on your refrigerator door, determined to meet it. Then, when you get toward the end of the month you discover that your money is running out. There are usually two culprits here: Overspending on emergencies and overspending on discretionary items. You might overspend if your car’s transmission goes on the fritz. You might overspend if your water heater suddenly floods the basement. Those are unexpected, emergency expenses. However, you might also overspend by buying a premium coffee at the drive-through every morning or renting dozens of movies from your favorite online streaming services. These are examples of overspending on discretionary items. The good news? You can take steps to prevent both types of overspending. Changing bad habits First, make sure to add a line item to your household budget for emergency repairs, medical expenses and other unexpected emergencies. If no emergencies pop up, that is good. If they do, you’ll be able to pay for them without breaking your budget. You should also build up a rainy day emergency fund, savings that you only use to cover emergencies. Having such a fund prevents you from either busting your monthly budget or racking up credit-card debt to pay for emergency expenses. Stopping your discretionary overspending requires that you change your habits. First, realize that you have a budget for a reason. It makes no sense to budget if you are willing to overspend just because you’d like to catch the latest movie on opening night. Secondly, be realistic with your budget. Make sure that you set aside enough money for such items as entertainment, dining out and food. If you are always overspending on these items, it might be time to rework your budget. It helps, too, to chart your discretionary spending in a notebook. When you look over this spending journal, you’ll see just where your discretionary dollars are going. Long-term costs There are definite long-term costs to overspending. For instance, when you overspend, you are wasting dollars that you could otherwise deposit into savings accounts or other investment vehicles. That becomes money that never has a chance to grow from compound interest. Think, too, about how much better it’d be to take that extra $100 you spent on movies and dining out toward paying down your car loan or credit card debt. Moreover, if overspending forces you to put other purchases on your credit cards? Now all those extra iced coffees are adding to your high-interest rate debt. If your household budget is continually breaking, maybe it is time to take a closer look at your discretionary spending.

How Overspending Can Derail a Budget

View Resource How Overspending Can Derail a Budget
You’ve just bought a new computer. Maybe you’ve purchased your first car or a new refrigerator for your newly renovated kitchen. However, before the clerk or dealer finishes the transaction, you are asked if you want to pay extra for an extended warranty, also known as a service contract. The big question: Should you shell out these extra dollars? You might be surprised at how often your answer should be “no.” Service contracts or extended warranties provide free repair or maintenance services for a set number of years. They are not the same as a standard warranty. A standard warranty, which also provides free repairs or maintenance for a set number of years, is included in the purchase price of the product. An extended warranty on a new car, though, provides extra protection for when the standard warranty would end. For instance, a service contract might entitle you to free repairs for your car for an additional five years after your standard warranty expires. A service contract might mean that you will not have to pay a repairman should that new furnace you just bought break down in the next eight years. Taking out one of these extended warranties or service contracts, then, sounds like a smart financial move. After all, car repairs or fixes to major appliances are not cheap. However, you’ll have to consider several important questions before you decide if paying extra for a longer warranty or service contract makes financial sense. First, study the existing warranty, the one included in your product’s purchase price. If this warranty is already a long one — say your new oven comes with a five-year warranty as part of the price — you might not need to purchase an extended warranty or service contract. Look, too, at the cost of these extra contracts or warranties. Often, this added protection can be quite costly. You’ll have to determine, then, how likely you are to need enough service or repairs to cover the cost of the extended warranty. No one can predict the future, of course. You do not know if you’ll drop your new laptop while walking up the stairs. You cannot predict if your new refrigerator will suddenly go on the fritz. If you read reviews in consumer magazines and from users, you can tell how reliable an individual product is. If it is unlikely that your new product will need repairs within the service contract’s lifespan, then you should probably pass on the extra protection. You also need to take a close look at the terms of the service contract that a retailer or dealer is offering you. Many times, these contracts contain fine print limiting the type of repairs or maintenance that they’ll cover. Your new desktop computer might fritz out. When you call the manufacturer, you might find that, for some arcane reason, your extended warranty does not cover labor costs associated with the repair. Service contracts might also include language that denies coverage if you have not followed the company’s maintenance rules. Other contracts only cover particular parts of your new product. Remember, service contracts are money makers for companies. Many will do whatever they can to limit the amount of coverage they actually provide to their customers. Another recommendation? Make sure you know who will handle any claims that you make. Sometimes the retailer from which you purchased the product will handle the repairs to a damaged item. Other times, you’ll have to ship your damaged product to the manufacturer, a process that can extend the amount of time before the product returns to you. The Federal Trade Commission provides one last piece of advice: After you bring your new oven, car or dishwasher home, be careful if a telemarketer calls to ask if you’d like an extended warranty. Often these callers are not affiliated with either the retailer from which you purchased the product or the manufacturer of it. Often the extended warranties offered by these unrelated businesses are even less useful than the ones provided by bigger-name retailers or manufacturers. Consumer advocates often recommend that you skip extended warranties or service contracts, mainly because these products are rarely worth the money. The vast majority of consumers will not use their extended warranties often enough to warrant spending money on them. A better option? If you are a disciplined saver, take the dollars that you would have invested in a service contract and deposit them in a savings account. You can then use these funds to handle repairs if your refrigerator, washing machine or laptop should break down.

Extended Warranties & Service Contracts

View Resource Extended Warranties & Service Contracts
How many times has the cashier across from you asked you this question: “Would you like to apply for our store credit card?” When you hesitate, they follow up with: “It will qualify you for 10 percent off on all your purchases, including this one.” It is easy to say “yes.” After all, signing up for the store credit card seems to make financial sense. You were already going to buy the items in front of the cashier. Why not sign up for the card, get your discount and spend less money? Then, when you pay off the item, you can cancel the card. That does sound smart. Problem is; too many of us never follow through with that “payoff the charge and cancel the card” part. That could lead to financial problems done the road. The truth? Retail credit cards rarely offer the best terms. There are some benefits to using these cards, just not many. The problem Here is the main problem with retail credit cards: They usually come with higher interest rates than do standard bank or credit union issued cards. This is important if you have a habit of not paying your credit cards in full each month. You might intend to pay off your retail credit card in full as soon as your first statement arrives. However, what if you do not have the money? Then you’ll pay only part of your bill. Then interest will kick in. Also, retail credit cards are famous for having interest rates in the high teens and low 20s. The interest on these cards can build quickly, leaving you with a debt load that gets larger and larger. These cards, then, are far from ideal if you struggle each month to eliminate your credit card balances. The cons Those high interest rates are the biggest drawbacks of retail credit cards. However, they are not the only one. They are also not flexible. You can use traditional credit cards most anywhere, at grocery stores, gas stations or area department stores. Store credit cards, though, only work at the retail establishment printed on the front of the card. That is a limited card. Remember, having too many open credit card accounts can damage your three-digit credit score. Why waste a credit account on a card that you can use with one retailer? Another problem with store credit cards? They often have onerous terms, too. Yes, the interest rates are usually awful. However, so are the penalties. The late fees associated with store credit cards can be hefty. Those late payments will often also send your card’s interest rate even higher. At the same time, many store cards do not give you as much time to make your payment as do traditional credit cards. Finally, there are simply better credit card options out there. Banks, credit unions and other card issuers offer a wide variety of credit cards that come with lucrative rewards programs. These cards might provide you with a cash-back bonus at certain times of the year. They might let you earn free airline miles. Others will provide you with points that you can cash in for hotel stays, airplane reservations or retail merchandise. Also, these rewards cards often come with interest rates that are far lower than those offered by store credit cards. The pros If you pay off your balance each month, store credit cards might not be a bad financial decision. That is especially true if you sign up for a card with a retailer where you spend a steady amount of money each month. Store credit cards often offer discounts on store merchandise, something that can save you money … as long as you do not keep a balance each month. Store credit cards might also be an attractive choice for consumers with no credit histories or bad credit. It is easier to qualify for retail credit cards. You can then use these cards to demonstrate sound financial behavior — paying your credit-card bills on time. This practice will gradually help you rebuild damaged credit or establish a credit history if you do not yet have one. Before accepting your cashier’s offer for store credit, make sure to consider your financial habits and credit status. In most cases, you’ll find that a retail credit card does not make sound financial sense. 

The Pros and Cons of Retail Credit

View Resource The Pros and Cons of Retail Credit
When you are getting a new car, you have a big choice to make between buying and leasing. Assuming you cannot make the purchase in cash, buying or leasing can feel pretty similar because, in both cases, you are making a monthly payment for your car. However, there are some key differences between them, and it is important to understand how leasing a car works before you take out a lease. On the surface, a lease looks a lot like a long-term rental agreement. You decide how many years you want to drive the car, and you pay a fixed monthly amount during those years. At the end of your lease term, you return the car and pay for any damage beyond normal wear and tear. You also will pay extra if you go over the mileage cap set in your lease. However, there are some key differences between a lease and a long-term rental. One of the main differences is that you have control over several aspects of your monthly payments. When you lease a car, you are paying the leasing company for the reduction in the car’s value over the course of your lease, but you can negotiate the starting value just as if you were buying the car. The other component of your monthly payment is interest on the value of the car. The rate you pay is based primarily on your credit score. Key terminology you need to understand about leases: Factors to consider as you look into car leases: Leasing a car is ideal if you like to drive a new car every few years. It helps keep your monthly payments low and makes it very easy to bring in your car at the end of your lease and sign a new lease on a different car. On the other hand, if you could see yourself driving the car for five or more years, consider buying it instead. This allows you the freedom to drive it even longer than five years, and to own an asset that you can trade in to reduce the cost of buying your next car. Your family situation should play a role in determining whether to buy or lease a car. For example, kids are messy, and they can cause damage to the car’s interior that you would have to pay for at the end of a lease. Also, if you have a growing family, you may want to change to a different vehicle before your lease term is up, and it is very difficult to get out of a lease. On the other hand, if you have limited income now and just want a car to drive for a few years, low lease payments are a very attractive option.

Understanding Car Leases

View Resource Understanding Car Leases

Does it make better sense to buy or lease a new vehicle? That depends on a number of factors, such as the residual value of the car you intend to purchase, the amount of money you pay up front as a capitalized cost reduction and the cost of financing. A lease will usually be a more attractive option when compared to a vehicle purchase when measured over a comparable term. Keep in mind that with a lease, you will have to return the vehicle at the end of the lease term, whereas you will own the vehicle and will be able to continue driving it after the term expires.

Purchase or Lease a Vehicle

View Resource Purchase or Lease a Vehicle

As the price of gasoline continues to rise the question often arises as to whether it makes financial sense to trade-in a ‘gas guzzler’ for a more fuel-efficient vehicle. There are many factors that go into that decision, including the cost of the new vehicle, the amount of miles you drive and the cost of fuel. You can calculate your monthly fuel savings based on your current miles per gallon, miles driven per month and cost of fuel and estimate how much you’ll save by purchasing a more fuel efficient vehicle and when you’ll breakeven on the fuel efficient vehicle purchase.

Gas Mileage Savings with a Fuel Efficient Vehicle

View Resource Gas Mileage Savings with a Fuel Efficient Vehicle

The purchase price of the vehicle you can afford is based on several factors, including the monthly payment you can afford to make, your down payment, net value of any vehicle you’ll be trading in and any rebates or cash back offers available from the dealer or manufacturer.

Vehicle Affordability by Loan Term

View Resource Vehicle Affordability by Loan Term