If you’re looking for ways to rein in excess spending and meet your savings goals, then you might want to consider taking some time to reflect on your priorities and life goals. That can inspire an overall plan and new habits that guide your day-to-day decisions. Incorporating new tools and even sharing your plans with friends can also help. Consider these 10 strategies:
1. First, set new priorities.
Budgets tend to revolve around three costs: food, housing and transportation. After you budget for those expenses, which probably account for between half to two-thirds of your take-home pay, and factor in any debt payments, you can decide how to prioritize savings, household expenses, professional expenses and entertainment. Those flexible expenses can be scaled up and down more quickly than fixed costs like rent payments.
2. Harness the power of online tools.
On Mint.com you can upload your credit card account information and get immediate insight into where your money is going. You can then use that information to start saving more money. Your bank might offer a similar interface through its website. If you like to budget on the go, then you might want to consider a smartphone app such as Moven, Prism or Level Money. All three offer insight into your spending habits and make it easier to manage your money.
3. Time yourself.
Once you decide you need to buy a specific item, like a new computer, then you might want to consider giving yourself a deadline to make the purchase. “You don’t want to lose precious time sifting through options when your instinctive reaction will probably end up being the best decision,” says AnnaMaria Turano, co-author of “Stopwatch Marketing: Take Charge of the Time When Your Customer Decides to Buy.” (But do take the time to look for a coupon or promo code if it will make the purchase cheaper.)
4. Budget by the year, not just the month.
Budgeting for the year is better largely because people feel less confident in monthly estimates, so they tend to add more of a buffer for unexpected expenses, according to research by University of Southern California’s Gulden Ulkumen, Cornell University’s Manoj Thomas and New York University’s Vicki Morwitz. The professors suggest taking a longer term view for a more accurate budget that you can stick with.
5. Set money aside for fun experiences.
According to a survey of over 2,000 adults by Eventbrite, an online ticketing service, people get more enjoyment out of experiences than material items. That’s because when you pay for an experience, you get to enjoy three things: the anticipation, the event itself and then the memory of the event. The pleasure gained from splurges on material goods, even luxury items, often fades after the excitement of the purchase wanes.
6. Consider your high and low points.
A quick review of where you went wrong, and right, over the past few months will help pinpoint your weaknesses. Did you end up spending twice as much as usual on plane tickets because you waited too long to buy them? Or did you buy overly expensive gifts? Don’t just beat yourself up; consider the good decisions you made, too, whether it was comparing prices before buying a new television or cooking more homemade meals.
7. Take a spending diary challenge.
Write down every single thing you spend money on for two weeks, along with notes on why and how it made you feel. You might be surprised to discover the real leaks in your budget. Instead of lunches out and cab rides, you might be wasting money on coffee and happy hours. After the two weeks are up, review the list and see what jumps out at you.
8. Avoid temptation.
If you were on a diet, would you stare at chocolate chip cookies all day? Of course not. So why do we torture ourselves by allowing catalogs full of shiny, new kitchen gadgets or tempting electronics to come through our mail slot every day? Cancel them. At the very least, sign up for a service like Unroll.Me, which gathers all of your subscription emails and bundles them into a single email sent to you once daily.
9. Reward yourself.
Diets that force people to expunge almost everything tasty from their meals never seem to have much success. That principle applies to money, too. Denying ourselves every material pleasure turns money into a sad subject, instead of an empowering one. After all, you work hard for your money, so it should bring you some pleasure. Maybe that means the occasional meal out or a new item of clothing.
10. Share your budgeting goals with others.
Whether you want to stop wasting money on unnecessary shopping trips or pay off your credit card debt, share those goals with friends and perhaps even strangers. Websites like MyLifeList.org make it easy to share goals with like-minded people; you can also share on social media sites like Facebook or Twitter.
More from U.S. News
11 Ways to Save Time and Money
Your Month-to-Month Guide to Savings
50 Ways to Improve Your Finances in 2015
10 Steps to a Smarter Spending Plan originally appeared on usnews.com
