Give Yourself an Allowance

I know, I know…You  are probably thinking, “I’m not 5 years old anymore”, but think about it.  Using your credit or debit card is sooo easy, isn’t it?  It’s a magical card that you swipe and you can buy anything you want with it? Right? Wrong-o!  One of the top ways people get in financial trouble is by using their credit card like there are no consequences.  Money isn’t this magical imaginary thing.  It is tangible, and I believe that the best way to get back to really believing that is by having it in your hand. 

So what I’m suggesting is giving yourself a weekly cash allowance.  This allowance is to be used only on miscellaneous non-essential items such purchasing a magazine, a coffee in the morning or buying your lunch instead of brown-bagging it.  By using your allowance money to purchase these non-essential items, you are visually seeing how fast your money is being spent and you have better control to maybe say no to that coffee in the morning if you only have $5 left of your allowance money for the week.

The amount of your allowance will depend on various factors however I suggest that you challenge yourself.  Start with $40 a week.  From there, go to $30.  Can you go as low as $20?  Maybe, maybe not.  It all depends on each person’s unique situation.  However, I have found that the more I challenge myself to be thrifty, the better I get at it.  The better I get at being thrifty, the more extra change I have at the end of every week.  

Thanks for reading!