8 Money Habits That Keep Your Poor

Today I want to talk about finances and more specifically money habits that keep you poor. Ok so you want to save money, you have a budget but you’re not really committed and you notice some patterns in your spending habits. 

I was the same. A few years ago, I decided to be more careful with my finances. I wanted to save money for my future and being less stressed about looking at my spending each month. And I noticed some spending habits that kept me poor for a long long time. Today I want to share with you these habits and how I overcame them. 

I’m still guilty about some of them today but you know, we’re human and we need to live and enjoy life too. Today I save 50% of my income so it’s ok for me to spend the rest of my money. 

Okay so let’s get started. 

Being excessive and always wanting more

It’s like YOLO. We have one life so we need to enjoy and be excessive all the time. It’s like asking for another drink or another dessert every single time you’re in a restaurant, even if you’re full. It’s to spend money on clothes you don’t need because you want this piece at the moment. It’s really the mindset that it’s okay because we have one life and we need to enjoy it. I was really guilty about this a few years ago. I was always excessive. I was always the one that bought drinks because it was party time and because life wasn’t easy; we needed to decompress. 

I’m not against this and sometimes I’m guilty about this but you also need to be reasonable. And you need to know your why. 

If it’s because what you buy will be instant gratification, perhaps it’s better to think about long-term gratification. 

And how to overcome this: you need to know why you’re doing this.

Why are you drinking more tonight? Did you have a long day at work and you want something quick to feel better? 

And what are your goals? Do you want to save money?

Think about your midterm future, not what you think or feel in the next few minutes. 

Think about how you will feel the next morning or when you will open your bank account. 

Shopping without a precise goal

I was really guilty about this too. My number one activity when I was bored was to go to the mall and see the latest trends and what I could buy. It was something I did every week or every two weeks. I spent a lot of money doing this to wear clothes or shoes once. And sometimes, I had the label on the cloth for weeks and even months. I decluttered these clothes with labels in my big closet declutter a few months ago. 

And I had nothing else to do during these times so it was difficult to fight this habit. So I had to find something to do to replace that. And because I didn’t have enough space for my clothes, I started decluttering and I liked that. I liked this feeling. So I began to document my life through minimalism and I started this channel. And now, I go to the mall when I really need to buy something. 

I also try to stay occupied when I’m at home because now it’s so easy to shop online and to click order because you already have your credit card memorized on your computer. 

Not being aware of your expenses

It’s to spend money on something you have twice, or not compare prices or buy things you really don’t need. It’s also to have expenses you’re not aware of, like a monthly subscription or something you need to pay this month. And you are surprised when you see it in your bank account. 

That’s why it’s important to know what you have on your shelves, in your closet and the subscriptions you have. 

When I’m running errands, I know exactly what I have on my shelves because I don’t want to have duplicates and I don’t want to have those things that will expire. 

And I’m not a fan of having cloth in double too. 

Not looking at your bank account frequently

Okay, you don’t need to look at it every single day. But it’s not great to be afraid to look at it because you know you screwed up. 

There were times when I knew I had spent too much money and I didn’t want to see my bank account. And it’s ridiculous because it wouldn’t make my expenses disappear. So even if it’s not really a great moment, try to look at it every 3 days. It’s also important to see if there isn’t some suspicious activity on your bank account too. 

You can have an app with all your bank accounts at the same place and at the same time. You don’t have to check 50 apps to see your bank account and credit cards. 

I know it’s scary but you will save a lot more money if you pay attention to your budget and the money you have in your bank account instead of not doing it. So take an hour to look at your finances, check what habit is bad and what costs you a lot, and do a kind of budget, something that works for you. 

Not paying you first

So, of course, there are taxes. And you have everything else, like your loan or your rent. After that, you need to pay yourself before everything else. A big mistake I made was to put money left in my bank account into a saving account. And let me tell you that I didn’t save a lot of money by doing that. I know that if I don’t see money in my bank account, I won’t spend it. 

So what you need to do is to budget your mandatory expenses, save 20% for your leisure and make automatic transfers to your savings accounts. Doing this lets you know exactly what is left in your bank account for the rest of the month. You need to do that the day or the day after you receive your income.

It’s a game-changer. 

Always wanting to upgrade what you don’t need 

Like your phone, laptop, TV, fitness shoes, and everything else, even wanting to have the latest trend in your closet. With fast fashion, you have new trends every week. So it’s not really possible to wear everything you buy. The cost per use it’s not really great. It’s a waste of money, and it’s a waste of the environment.

What I try to do when I need to have better technology is to sell to have a discount or to recycle. 

For example, I needed to upgrade my laptop because it wasn’t sufficient to edit videos, so I sold the previous one to have a discount. What you can do two is two try to buy the middle price. For example, for my laptop, I didn’t buy the cheaper one, and I didn’t buy the expensive one too. By doing this, you know that the technology will last longer.

Being too strict with your budget

So we are human and it’s OK to have some pleasure from time to time. We work a lot. We spend time helping others. And we pay a lot of taxes too. So sometimes you need to be less strict with your budget because if you don’t do it, you will explode in your budget will be a disaster. 

I’m totally guilty about this, because when I decided to do a no-buy year, it was really difficult to not spend money and during these times, I was guilty of spending money on things that weren’t really necessary, and that were really expensive because I felt like I was a prisoner of my own budget. 

So sometimes you can totally buy your coffee to go. I’ll buy this little top that you saw a month ago. And that’s totally OK. By doing this, you’re not feeling the urge to spend a lot of money because you didn’t spend a lot for a long time.

Not doing a kind of budget

And finally, not having a kind of budget. When you don’t have a budget, you don’t know where your money will go. You don’t know how much money you spend on food on leisure in restaurants. And at the end of the month, you feel surprised by how much you spend on things. 

It doesn’t have to be a fancy budget with a lot of columns, diagrams, and everything else. You just need to have an excel sheet with only two columns. 

A column for your income and another one for your expenses, and that’s it. 

I hope it will help you to notice bad habits with your finances and helps you to save money. 

See you!