Curbing Your Spendings

General Rules of the Thumb

• Spend wisely, purchasing only what you really need.
• Never spend more than what you earn.
• Set a limit for how much you can spend each day/month. Example: never spend more than 70% of your earnings each month.
• Draw up a budget and stick to it.
• Reviewing last year's expenses will remind you of your purchases.
• Make a list of all the things you want to spend money on and prioritize. It is time you'll have to cut out the items on the bottom of your list. You can do so by scheduling impulsive buys, i.e., set up a date to buy something that you buy on impulse in the future, when you have extra cash or wait for a sale.
• Track spending on a weekly basis.
• To spend less, you need to start a habit of saving up. 

 

How teens can spend wisely

Whenever you spend money for whatever purposes, it is always wise to take records of certain transactions that you feel that you have wasted money on and make sure that you do not commit the same mistake again. At the same time, take note of all your expenditures and sources of income through recording down the sum of money that you receive and also collecting receipts whenever you make a payment so that you will be able to record down your expenditures when you are free. It is also good to avoid using credit card spending at this young age as you may not be very experienced in handling money. Borrowing money from other people is also a bad practice.

Whenever you receive your income, do save a portion of it and not spend all at a go. When you want to purchase something that may be a bit expensive or you do not have an urgent need for the product, wait for a possible sale or discount that will be coming and then purchase the item during that period as it will cost much cheaper. You could also purchase items that you can assemble yourself instead of buying ready - made products.

A spending plan would be very beneficial for teens. Some important parts of planning your spending would be to identify your incomes, deciding on expenditures and also set your spending goals base on what you need first instead of what you want.