Spending Money Wisely

Over spending can wreck your budget and add stress to your life. Identify the cause of your out of control spending, and get back on track.

Here's a list of common causes to consider. See if one or more apply to you:

Hectic Life
When your lead a busy life, your shopping tends to become more hurried and last-minute, which leads to overspending. Answer the following questions to see if this applies to you:

• Do you frequently find yourself running to the store for ingredients that go into tonight's dinner?
• Do you feel too rushed in the store to compare prices?
• Do screaming kids keep you from checking the prices of the items you're buying?
• Do you find yourself buying things at convenience stores because you didn't have time to shop in advance?

Sense of Entitlement
When you work hard, you deserve to be rewarded, right? Absolutely! The only problem is that hard work doesn't always give you enough funds to reward yourself the way you would like to or as often as you would like to. Answer the following questions to see if this applies to you:

• Do you go out to dinner frequently because you feel a need to indulge?
• Do you treat yourself to a reward every time you have a bad day?
• Do you use goodies to boost your sense of self worth?
• Do you buy things you can't afford because you feel entitled to them?
• Do you buy things to keep up with what everyone else has?

Boredom
Shopping out of boredom can prove quite costly and often leads to the purchase of items that you don't need. Answer the following questions to see if this applies to you:

• Do you head to the store when you have nothing better to do?
• Do you head to the store with a list and then browse the rest of the store to kill time?
• Do you shop online when you can't sleep or need a break?
• Do you find yourself shopping even when there's nothing you need to buy?

Lack of Planning
Staying on budget takes careful planning, and if you aren't putting in the time, you're probably overspending. Answer the following questions to see if this applies to you:

• Do you go to a store without checking the weekly sales circular first?
• Do you avoid writing out a shopping list in favor of winging it at the store?
• Do you often find yourself paying more for last-minute services because you failed to plan ahead?
• Do you find yourself paying a premium for items that you could have bought ahead of time, such as food from a convenience store, tickets to a concert or reservations to a hote?.

Figure out what's behind your overspending. Is it one of the things on this list? Something else entirely? Once you identify the reasons for your overspending, it'll be much easier to tackle your overspending problem once and for all.

Remember, you are in control of your own spending!