{"id":223117,"date":"2016-05-25T06:45:11","date_gmt":"2016-05-25T13:45:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/getrichslowly.org\/blog\/?p=223117"},"modified":"2018-11-28T23:31:26","modified_gmt":"2018-11-29T07:31:26","slug":"dear-money-diary-today-i-spent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/dear-money-diary-today-i-spent\/","title":{"rendered":"Tips to Spend Less Money"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"illustration<\/a><\/div>\n

If you need tips to spend less money, you’ve come to the right judgment-free zone. I feel like I should introduce myself. \u201cHello. My name is Elissa, and I am an unconscious spender.\u201d<\/p>\n

(\u201cHello, Elissa.\u201d)<\/p>\n

\u201cI give myself a $200 allowance every two weeks, but when the cash is gone, I use the credit card or hit the ATM. A hundred here, a hundred there. I feel like that Fast Cash $60 button is a slot machine in a casino!\u201d<\/p>\n

I am an impulse buyer from way back. I have a shoe addiction. I love nail polish. Also, position something strategically by the cash register with a cute sign, and I’ll buy it. How many lip balms does one woman need? And lattes! Don’t even get me started about lattes.<\/p>\n

But I am not alone. In fact, the \u201cLatte Factor\u201d is an actual thing. Best-selling financial author David Bach coined the term to symbolize the high cost of small, periodic spending. Bach has gotten rich writing books bought by people like me (were they positioned strategically by the cash register?), as have many others, including Dave Ramsey, Suze Orman, and Napoleon Hill.<\/p>\n

It’s a multi-gazillion-dollar industry. Type \u2018saving money’ in Amazon’s search bar and you get 69,286 results. \u201cPinch Like You Mean It! 101 Ways to Spend Less Money Now\u201d, \u201cSaving Money: The 40 Tip Cheat Sheet for Peace of Mind, Effective Budgeting and Financial Success\u201d, \u201cLiving Well Spending Less: 12 Secrets of the Good Life.\u201d And on and on.<\/p>\n

<\/span>The struggle is real<\/span><\/h2>\n

But I wanted more than just me, so as all good journalists do these days, I turned to Facebook. Friends, I posted, are you an unconscious spender?<\/p>\n

~ I can’t go to Walmart without buying a shirt. I’ve tried to resist, but those tees, those colors, those red discount labels. How can you resist a $5 shirt?<\/em><\/p>\n

~ I am a big sucker. I go to Whole Foods for a few fruits and veggies and come home with a grow-it-at-home mushroom kit. I go to Bed, Bath and Beyond and lord help me if there is the “as seen on TV” section – although the dozen sham wows are amazing! And if GMA deals and steals are on, watch out ( great prices for a lot of stuff I don’t need).<\/em><\/p>\n

~ Dishes call my name. Katie…woohoo…over here. You don’t have a festive set for the 4th of July (or Labor Day) or Mardi Gras). When we down sized to move to Florida we had 15 sets of dishes. We are down to 5 (I snuck a set in the boxes). I have to stay away from Pottery Barn because as soon as I walk through the door I hear them calling.<\/em><\/p>\n

~ I go (to any store) with a list in my mind. My intentions are to get what I need. Then before I even get to the register somehow and without no explanation I’ve become a ‘MAGNET’…….yes a magnet. I have things that I don’t even remember picking up and I’m paying for them.<\/em><\/p>\n

There’s certainly comfort in company! I decided as the first step in figuring out this flow from wallet to world was to keep a diary, a money diary, to track my spending for a week and then begin to assess and (possibly) take action.<\/p>\n

Related: The Benefits of Paying Yourself First<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Here’s the rub \u2014 as soon as I was conscious of my unconscious spending, I wasn’t spending! Or maybe I just wasn’t out and about. One strategy I have long held is called DON’T GO IN THERE. It applies primarily to Target and DSW. If you don’t go into DSW, you can’t come out with 4 pairs of adorable new shoes (which technically you saved money on because of all your points). So I’m not sure how accurate the diary is, because I was actually paying attention.<\/p>\n

And some of the spending isn’t unconscious, it’s just the result of bad planning. Specifically I am addressing the use of the credit card, or as I like to call it OH MY GOD I AM OUT OF CASH. I had several cases of that during the week, including my daughter’s prom hairdo and my brother’s birthday present. If I had planned better, or let’s be honest if I had planned at all, I would not have needed the credit card for those two moments.<\/p>\n

Quick sidebar: I’m not saying I use a credit card to build up debt. That’s always a bad idea. Rather, this is about reaching for the credit card when you go over your pre-planned budget of cash for discretionary items. Also bad.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Let’s add it all up<\/span><\/h2>\n

My total \u2018unplanned’ (since I was conscious of it) spending for the week was $85.91. This included:<\/p>\n