3 Things I Need to Stop Doing, Financially
1. Putting off investments
Because I’m not seeing the same immediate returns on investments that I was seeing, I’m having such a hard time getting motivated to make deposits into my savings, save the emergency fund that’s set on auto deposit. I *need* to think more long-term and to remember that buying stocks is buying into a company.
2. Splurging
Once you’ve done it up a couple times in a row, it can be hard to stop. Splurging once in a while is good; splurging every week is bad.
3. Buying things I don’t need
I bought a pair of the cutest vintage-inspred heels last week, on sale for about $50. Not a bad deal, but they hurt like heck, so I’ll never wear them. I’m going to return them.
What about you?
Image: Peter Kaminski
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9 Responses to “3 Things I Need to Stop Doing, Financially”
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I really need to start thinking about my investments too. I keep putting it off, thinking there will come a time when I’ve got more money available to do it. The important thing I need to start remembering is that I’ll never have the ‘perfect’ amount of money. If I don’t get my arse in gear soon I will have put it off forever!
Some people have a weakness for food; I have a weakness for shoes and accessories. I never spend alot at one time, but those small purchases add up to large amounts of money over time that could go to places like paying down debt or saving/investing.
I need to stop going out to eat.
I need to start cooking more.
I need to figure out a way to live on no money a month…
NO money a month!?? LOL, SavingDiva.
I need to give myself some breathing room with my budget.
I need to be flexible about eating out if I’m pressed for time and exhausted to cook.
Most of all I need to give myself credit for how far I’ve come in my finances and avoid feeling guilty if I want to buy cheap end-of-the-day takeout from Chinatown for dinner.
I’ve got a suggestion for you: take advantage of ingdirect’s easy-to-manage CDs, which you can set up for any amount, to build a great emergency fund.
If you start now putting $100 a month into a 6 month CD (and in 7 months, add a second $100 to the first CD that comes due), then increase your monthly deposit a little as you get raises, then it won’t be too long before you’ll have 6 months’ living expenses cycling along making a little bit of interest and serving as a great safety net.
Once you’ve got that going, you can keep $2000 or whatever in a “what if the car breaks down?” kind of emergency fund and after that, as long as you make sure your CDs and “what if” accounts stay on par with your lifestyle, you won’t ever have to worry about that part of the personal finance picture again.
(In the meantime, it’s pretty helpful if you automate your monthly investing and then leave it alone. The power of compounding is massively on your side, so you’ve got to jump on it now, or kick yourself a few years from now!)
Thanks, FGS–I always appreciate your input! Truth is, I already have six months’ living expense and am just working beyond that with the ER fund. That’s already automated, and I’m happy with it. What I’m really pushing myself towards now is more investment-type savings (i.e., stocks).
Ugh, splurging. The bain of most savers existence. I do it myself and want to stop, but it’s like crack, hard to stop.
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