5 Steps To Better Money Habits

It's a little overdraft here, a pair of shoes you really couldn't afford there

, and suddenly you check your credit score online and it has majorly dropped, and you're shocked because you didn't do anything majorly wrong. But it's small, daily choices like these that can add up to that major surprise.

Set guidelines

You don't have to deprive yourself of little pleasures altogether, but you do have to earn them. Make simple rules such as "For every 5 meals I cook at home, I can go to one restaurant" or "I'm not allowed to visit my favorite store's websites until I've paid off my credit card." These guidelines are super easy to stick to, but can put you in a bad place financially if you don't set them ahead of time.

Remember that you spend to earn

Sure, it's nice to be able to buy something with money you don't have yet because you've got that nice high credit line. But, what's a lot more fun is adding up enough miles to go on a vacation you've been dying to take, or gaining travel points at resort hotels, or enough credit to finally buy a home, all of which are benefits of paying your credit card bills on time. Any time you're tempted to dip into funds that really aren't there, ask yourself this: would I rather have this handbag or a flight to the Bahamas?

Find your distractions

My friend who is a voice coach often has downtime in between singing lessons and unfortunately her go-to activity is to shop online. She's sitting in her studio with no one around to teach how to sing, and nothing but her laptop. She just needed to learn what, more than shopping, was able to suck up her attention. She found that giving her mother a ring or visiting a very juicy celebrity gossip website made her spending itch go away. Learn what, without fail, is always able to distract you.

Set limits

If you can't control yourself, have your credit card company do it. Set a lower limit and opt out of the over-draft option so that, if you don't have the funds, your card will simply be denied. Your credit card company won't like it because, there goes the interest they make all their money off of but, that's their problem, not yours.

Automate your life

Take an hour and set up automated payments on your gas bill, cable bill, phone bill, insurance bill, car payments and absolutely everything that has an automated option. If you know that you decide every month when and how much you pay, you'll too often rely on that option to just pay late or pay the minimum payment. But, when things are automated, you know you can't buy something you can't afford because that will mess with your credit score when that automated payment kicks in, and the funds aren't in your bank account.

by: Vera Esther

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