Have you ever tried to put yourself on a Spending diet? In your twenty’s that can be a really tough thing to do especially, when you are not that financially stable. We convince ourselves by saying “well damn I do it everyday”, but still find time to make it to Happy Hour. And, “I don’t ever buy lunch”, but eat out almost every other night. These are some of the bad habits I was guilty of in my twenties. But, don’t be alarmed as of yet. When going on a spending diet, remember it should be catered specifically to you and your lifestyle. So, making sacrifices that are momentarily satisfying only will get you so far. Here a few tips to start up your spending diets.

Tip #1

Create A Grocery Budget: Your grocery budget should consist of items that will actually be used. So, if you live alone instead of buying food out the package, weighing your food will work great. Places like Wholefoods, Trader Joes, the farmers market allow you to weigh your grains, vegetables, and fruits instead of buying it as a pack.

Tip #2

You know that Kevin Hart Joke that goes like this, “I have to see how my checking and saving account look”.  When you’re checking and savings is with the same bank, it is so easy to transfer funds over when you are low in one of your account. Close that combined savings and checking, and open it with a whole different bank. Setup for when you check comes in a certain amount automatically goes into your savings, and leave that savings card home. I actually received this tip from a friend, and it has been a major game changer.

Tip #3

This is probably the hardest tip of all if you do everything with plastic. Give yourself a weekly allowance that is reasonable and leave your credit cards, and debit cards home. It will be major challenge in the beginning, but you will be happy at the end of your diet when you see what you have saved.

Tip #4

If you don’t need it, don’t buy it. Just like when on a weight loss journey, bad food habits are cut off to reach your goal. On a spending diet bad spending habits should be cut off as well.

Tip #5

Take a break from being around expensive company. If whenever engaged with certain company spending must always be involved. It may be time to for a break, because you will never reach your goal with old habits.

So in conclusion, similar to when a person reaches their weight loss goal, they also develop healthy lifestyle habits. In order to reach a goal certain bad habits will have to be restricted, or cut off because the goal is really to develop healthy financial habits.