In my own experience I find I have a multitude of motives for spending money. Sometimes I simply believe I need something or maybe I’m persuaded by publicity that convinces me my life will improve if I buy product X. Perhaps purchasing has become a sort of therapy to you or a pressing need provokes you to buy before you’ve really had time to think through the outlay. 

 If you can learn simply to think before you spend you will gain some control over your finacial outgoings. However if your experience is anything like mine you will find that emotions are such a powerfull force that without some sort of system in place it is almost impossible to put a break on such impulses. Habits seems harder to break than make.

·        So first get a piece of paper and decide what expenses cannot be avoided, for example electricity, water, rent or mortgage payments.

·        With whatever sum you have left from your income after deducting expenses decide what  other expenses are important. Be realistic. If you find it hard to estimate a budget for an area, collect your receipts for a period and calculate your monthly expenditure.

·        To help you calculate your monthly expenditure get a small notebook that you can carry in your pocket and a small pencil. Low tech is best because it will hardly ever fail to work.  Write down every cash payment in your book. Don’t forget to add cash withdrawals. Be DETERMINED!

·        Get the balance from your bank and count the cash in your wallet.

·       At the end of the week calculate your new cash balance, check it against the actual cash in your wallet. Write down all the payments in your bank statement and in your cash book. Reduce budget available amount by the expenditure. If things don’t square try to discover why. Don’t leave it more than a week or you may be overwhelmed with transactions.

·        You will rapidly discover unnaccounted for areas, where you spend too much, and where you can save. Keep records and documents, this will allow you to adjust and learn about your spending habits. Don’t take on any commitments like loans or mortagages or hire purchase or credit until you have done a complete study on how it will affect your budget. Get help if you need. A fresh pair of eyes often see what we don’t

Everything now depends on will-power to stick to your system. Be consistent. START TODAY DON’T DELAY! Remember this is all common sense and you can design your own system.  After a period of calculating your expenditure in this way you will have more control of your outgoings and will be able to move on to achieving some of your financial goals.  

This content was provided by one of our users, pedrocaza