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This post is all about ways to break your bad money habits.
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Hey guys, let’s just face it. We can all stand to save more money. Whether it’s not buying take-out every night, overpaying, or buying every little thing you see at the mall. There are definitely things we can do to stop being broke and actually have money leftover for ourselves.
And trust me, I’m not judging. I have been so guilty of all this stuff. Paying for a trillion random subscriptions. Buying expensive clothes I only wore once. I even used to yolo my money into crazy bets. So I know how easy it is to watch your paycheck you just got disappear into thin air.
But it does not have to be this way at all. There are super easy items that can instantly help us save hundreds if not thousands of dollars in no time. Thats why I made this post to go through 18 genius ways to break your bad money habits and start saving more money without any effort. I hope you find all of these helpful and more!
This post shows you how to break your bad money habits.
BEST WAYS TO BREAK YOUR BAD MONEY HABITS
1. Piggy bank
Yes, okay, I had to put this in here. Everyone knows what a piggy bank is. You probably had one as a kid but they can actually still be super useful as an adult too. I’m def one of those people who if I have easy access to the money, it’s so easy for me to spend it. But if you put it in a piggy bank, suddenly it’s out of sight so you don’t get tempted by it.
Plus piggy banks looks so nice so you can easily put this off to the side in your room, up in a closet, or wherever. “Out of sight, out of mind” is so true in this case. Just try it! I promise if you just start stashing a few bucks a way per month in this little cute thing, you will literally see SO much money when you go back and check it later.
2. Automatic investing app
This one is super crucial and honestly I wish I had set it up sooner. Everyone knows that the sooner you start investing, the better. But growing up I had no idea how to invest. It always seemed so complicated and risky. Plus if you put it in a bank account, you didn’t have to think about it.
But that’s where you’re wrong. Just leaving your money in a bank account would actually LOSE value over time due to inflation. Thats why it’s so important you put it in the market, where it grows 6-7% over time. Imagine putting in $100 now and then checking back in a couple years to see it’s worth $250. Thats the magic of investing! You will never get that kind of growth with a bank account.
Automatic investing apps are cool because they make it so simple for you to invest. You literally just set a certain amount per month and the app will automatically take it out of your bank account once a month and invest it for you. You don’t even have to think about it. And they will pick low risk investments that will make you money!
Here are some cool robo investor apps I love:
3. Credit check app
Literally everyone I know has struggled with credit at some point or another. Or maybe you don’t even know what credit is. (Hint: It tells banks how reliable you are with paying them back). But it does not have to be hard. Obviously we need credit to be able to buy a car, get a new apartment, all sorts of things. It’s so important to have good credit.
If you wanna improve your credit score, you def need to be able to monitor so you can see if you’re making progress. Thats why its super important to have a credit check app. I love them because I can just check easily and see “wow my credit score just went up!” Or “oh I dropped a couple points, lemme see what I did wrong.” It’s super convenient so you will love using it. And the best part is it’s FREE. The one I use is called Credit Karma, which is also the most popular.
4. Budget planner
I have to put this here too cause lets be real. Some of the most common bad money habits come from just not having a clear budget. You pay more for groceries than you intended. Eat out more than you expected. Buy more clothes than you have money for.
We all know it’s so important to have a good budget. You need to be able to clearly see how much you can spend on a certain thing. And be able to hold yourself accountable to it make sure you’re sticking with it. A budget planner is a really great way to make this super simple and easy.
5. Credit card payment checklist
Back on the topic of credit cards, the easiest way to ruin your credit score is to fall behind on credit card payments. If you don’t pay them off on time, you will also get into credit card debt. Thats why I 100% recommend for everyone to have a credit card payment checklist. They make it really easy for you to organize all of your credit cards and check off whether you paid them off or not.
You can literally make this a spreadsheet on your computer. Or just a note on your phone. Or a piece of paper. But the key here is to have a set date each month (preferable a couple times) that you go through it and check off what cards you paid off. If you stick with this, you will always pay off your credit cards and never carry a balance!
6. Expense tracker
This is definitely starting to get way more popular these days because of all the apps there are that do this. I didn’t even realize how helpful it could be until I tried it. An expense tracker is great because it literally keeps track of everything you buy so you can easily see what you spent money on. Especially if you struggle with not knowing where your money goes half the time like me.
Never again will you get a paycheck and wonder if someone stole it from you 2 days later when you check your bank account and its empty. Your expense tracker will hold you accountable and show you “boom, you spent 40 dollars on shoes. boom, you spent 20 dollars on that random top you don’t wear”. Then you can go back and compare what was in your budget vs what you ACTUALLY spent. It’s super helpful like that.
Here are the best expense tracker apps I recommend:
7. Paycheck calculator
If you’re starting a new job, it’s always helpful to see up front how much you’re gonna make. I literally was the type of person to apply for something, see my gross salary, and think thats how much I actually could budget off of. But nooo, that’s not how it works! You have to pay taxes on that etc so your actual paycheck is a lot smaller.
A paycheck calculator is awesome because it will tell you your post tax salary. All you do is just put in your salary, the state you live in, and boom, it will calculate your ACTUAL take home pay. This is so helpful because then you can actually budget on your real income.
Here’s the best app that I use for this:
8. Personal finance books
You may not be a person who reads a lot of books, but trust me, personal finance books will change your life. Until I started reading a bunch, I really had no idea just how important it is to pay attention to your money and invest it well. (I also had no idea what I was doing lol).
There are SO many personal finance books out there, written by all types of people for all sorts of audiences. You can read stuff about stock market investing. Making money in college. Saving up to retire early. Getting better with your taxes. Literally everything.
So I def recommend you give reading personal finance books a shot. Even if you don’t like reading that much. There’s even short ones that are only like 50 pages that you can get through in a couple hours but you will be so much smarter for it.
Here are a few I recommend everyone read:
9. Online courses for wealth building (even just youtube videos)
Now that we live in the time of the internet, you know there’s so much information out there. Videos, posts, ebooks. But literally one of the best ways to learn stuff is through online courses. And when it comes to breaking your bad money habits, it’s online courses on building your wealth.
I know it seems like why would I need an online course? But guys, trust me, I’ve taken like a couple courses and I have never learned so much about finance in my life. There are some that will teach you about saving, investing, getting a good credit score, getting out debt. You have to check them out.
And these days of course, you can find a ton of free stuff online too. Even just YouTube videos or channels dedicated to finance.
10. Online Discount site
I always love to save money wherever I can. And if there’s something I’m already planning to buy, it makes way more sense to get that on discount. With sites like Honey and , you can literally get discount codes on all sorts of stuff.
Plus there’s even sites that are specific to students so if you’re in college, you can get discounts on school supplies, subscriptions, etc. Oh and a lot of them will come with browser plugins that you can turn on so then when you go to a random online store (like H&M), it will tell you if there’s a coupon code you can apply to it.
Not only that but there’s even apps that will show you when your favorite items on your want list have gone on sale or at least lowered in price. Isn’t that amazing? Literally would’ve saved me so much money in the past.
Here’s the best discount sites:
11. Loan calculator
When you’re buying a car or thinking about buying a house etc, its super important to be aware of how much you will actually have to pay with that loan. A lot of times we get mixed up and don’t realize we’ll actually be paying more in the long run for taking a longer loan than if we just payed a tiny bit more up front.
Thats where I think loan calculators are so cool and important. They’re simple apps that will basically let you plug in a down payment number, the length of the loan etc, and see how much money it would be in total. You can then compare and see what your total cost would be if you paid a little more upfront etc.
This has totally changed my life when it comes to picking good loans and will make it so much easier for you to not get scammed into a loan you can’t afford.
Here’s some good loan calculator sites I like:
12. Bill organizer
I don’t know about you but I am terrible when it comes to keeping my bills organized. I always lose them and then started freaking out not knowing if something’s due. And we all know they have specific dates so it’s super important to stay on top of them.
Instead of losing your mind a few times each month, it makes way more sense to get a little file organizers for your bills and keep them organized at all times. Yes, it sounds kinda extra. But I guarantee if you get in the habit of just throwing your bills in there, you will never lose them again. Oh and you will pay your bills on time. (Isn’t that great haha?)
13. Storage container for receipts
Have you ever lost a receipt and then needed it to buy something? (Don’t lie lol!) Chances are we have all been here and it’s so freaking annoying.They’re super small pieces of paper so they’re easy to lose and misplace. But then you always need them when you have to return something that doesn’t fit you or a device that doesn’t work or whatever.
Wouldn’t it be so much better to have them stored in one central place so you never lose them again? Right. Yeah thats the idea behind a storage container for receipts. Literally a clear plastic container that you keep in a designated area in your room so you will always be able to find your receipts. No more not being able to return something just cause you lost the receipt.
14. Bill calendar
How many times have you forgotten when you have bills coming up? Trust me, no judgement here. It’s so easy to do. I mean think about it, we have to keep track of when our bill’s due for water, rent, utilities, car payment… Ugh it’s a lot. It would make it so much easier if we could have a place to just look and see what we have coming up thats due every month.
And thats why I think its so helpful to get a bill calendar! These are great because never again will you not due when your rent is due or forget about it. You will always be able to easily see what’s coming up so you can make sure you have the money read and you’re prepared. Totally recommend who struggles with bills like me to get one.
15. Stock research app (seeking alpha, etc)
Now this is seriously so crucial if you’re getting into stocks. And these days everyone and their grandma is getting into learning how to buy stocks. But it can seem so scary and complicated if you don’t know what you’re doing. You might be scared you’re gonna screw around and buy the wrong stock and lose all your money.
Thats why you def need to check out stock research apps like Seeking Alpha. These are SUCH great resources and they allow you to quickly read up on any stock. I always do this now whenever I’m thinking of buying something so I can see a detailed summary of how it performed in the past, what’s it doing now, and how its expected to perform in the future.
16. Want Vs Need list
I honestly came up with this idea myself and I have another post that goes into more detail on it but it’s sooo helpful. Think about it. Pretty much everything you buy can be categorized into a want or a need. Wants are things that you like that you COULD buy but you don’t have to buy. Whereas needs are stuff that you absolutely need to have.
You might think it’s obvious but in the moment, if you see a nice pair of shoes, you can trick your brain into thinking “oh I actually NEED these shoes” when really you don’t. Next thing you know you spent 500 dollars on them and they do nothing but sit up in your closet. And then you scramble trying to figure out how to pay your rent. Sound familiar?
Yeah thats why it’s so crucial to have a want vs need list. You can literally make this yourself with a piece of paper. Just write down stuff you’re planning on buying and clearly order it into those two categories. Anything on the want list you cannot buy unless you can pay for it at least THREE times over.
17. Vision board
This is sort of a classic thing that you hear about if you do a workshop somewhere on self improvement. But a vision board is actually great way to sort out your priorities and plan out where you want your life to be. Once you put together a vision board, you can clearly see that some of the things you spend money on may not be moving closer to your ultimate goals.
Maybe you’re someone who spends a ton of money on video games or wastes a bunch on designer clothes you can barely afford. Seeing that not reflected on a vision board can help you clearly see what you need to cut out so you can then spend your money on things that DO move you closer to your goals. Perhaps thats a book on finance, starting a business, or whatever else. Vision boards can be super helpful for breaking your bad money habits.
18. Portable safe (for if you misplace valuable items)
For those of you out there who seem to always lose valuable possessions, this is def something you wanna look into. My brother is someone who always loses his AirPods, expensive headphones, etc. Instead of spending a bunch of money on something and then losing it, doesn’t it make way more sense to keep it protected?
Getting a safe might seem dramatic but they have a little portable safes these days that you can easily store under your bed or in a closet somewhere. It doesn’t have to be some big bulky thing that looks intimidating. Personally I love throwing valuable items in there when I leave for trips so I know they’re protected when i’m gone.
But like I said, its also great if your main issue is just misplacing valuable items. If you know they’re in the safe and keep them there, you won’t have to deal with the heart attack of not knowing where your expensive item is ever again.