A bad habit can cost you more than you’d expect. And several bad habits can do even more damage. If you’re not careful, you could allow these habits to drain your budget, rack up your credit card, and put you in a risky financial spot. Below in this article, we will cover the Break These Bad Habits to Save More Money.
What Bad Habits Are Costing You?
Going into Overdraft:
Going into overdraft is a habit that you need to break – and do it fast. Withdrawing beyond your limits will lead you to collect bank fees and interest. It will also put you at risk of serious problems like missing important bills or bouncing checks.
What can you do to avoid going into overdraft? Check your bank accounts often to make sure that you know exactly how much you have in your account. Download banking apps so that you can check your funds at any time. Put together a sensible budget to help you track expenses and make sure that you’re not spending beyond your means. You can also ask your bank about overdraft protection to make sure that your checks clear and your transactions go through, even if you’ve crossed the limit.
What if it’s an emergency? If you don’t have enough to cover an emergency cost at the moment, you should try your best to avoid going into an overdraft. As an alternative, you could apply for a personal line of credit through CreditFresh to help you handle the emergency costs. With an online line of credit, you can withdraw funds within your credit limit and have them transferred directly into your bank account. This allows you to address the problem quickly and then manage the repayments later on.
Smoking Cigarettes:
Smoking cigarettes isn’t just a bad habit that will affect your health — it will affect your bank account, too. The National Cancer Institute found that a pack-a-day smoking habit costs the average smoker $188 per month and $2,292 per year. That’s just the short-term effect on your finances. In the long-term, quitting smoking can lead to lower insurance rates and fewer healthcare costs.
If you’re hoping to quit smoking, don’t just go cold turkey. Talk to your doctor first.
Forgetting to Pack a Lunch:
Buying your work lunch is a bad habit that can cost you. Even if you’re only spending $10 on your meal, making that purchase every single day can cost you over $2500 by the end of the year.
Save yourself some money by preparing your meals at home and bringing them to work with you. It doesn’t have to be complicated. You can cut down prep time and costs with recipes like DIY instant noodle cups or mason jar salads. A little bit of at-home prep can save you a lot of money.
Impulse Shopping:
You can’t help yourself. You see an ad in your Instagram feed or a promotional email in your inbox, and all of a sudden, you’re filling up your digital shopping cart.
What can you do to break this bad habit?
- Unfollow retailers on social media
- Unsubscribe to mailing lists, newsletters, and other promotional content
- Uninstall shopping apps from your smartphone
- Leave items in your shopping cart for 48 hours to test if you really want them
Don’t let your bad habits ruin your bank account. Break them and get excited about the money that you’re going to save without them.
