If you made it through the year without overspending or getting yourself into debt, well done! Everyone faced a range of challenges during that time and coming out the other side is a genuine achievement.
Our next challenge is winter. Long months of staying indoors, sitting in front of the computer or phone and trying to avoid spending money when bored. That’s what we’re tackling today.
We asked our auto loans team for some actionable advice to avoid boredom spending during the long winter.
Allocate a Monthly Spending Budget
Some people find it easy to go cold turkey and not spend anything at all. Most of us are not like that so it’s best to give yourself a little leeway.
Prepare your monthly budget as we often suggest and allocated a set amount per month for spending on yourself. Whether that’s going out, hobbies, sports or impulse buys.
More of us can work within a budget than go without completely so this could work.
Fill Your Time With Other Things
Impulse buys are often triggered by boredom. Avoid boredom and you should be able to avoid the majority of impulse buys.
Bing-watch Netflix, play board or computer games, read that series of books you wanted to finish, go for long walks with the dog, redecorate, learn a new language or skill or something else entirely.
The more you can fill your time with things you enjoy, the easier it will be to avoid spending money when bored.
Lock the Credit Card Away
You can also avoid spending money when bored by making it harder to access your finances by locking your credit card away and deliberately not remembering the number.
Locking the credit card away is a basic but effective way to control spending while keeping the flexibility of a credit card around.
They are too useful as emergency spending tools to do away with completely and can be useful for building credit. Putting it in your safe or out of reach is the next best thing.
Use Web Blockers
Another nuclear option but still useful is to use web blockers. These are browser addons that can block access to online stores, gaming websites and other sites where it’s easy to waste time.
In this context, we want to block online stores to help keep you focused on being productive. Try WasteNoTime or StayFocusd to begin with but there are lots of other options out there to try.
Track Your Spending
Our final tip for trying to help you save money is to track how much you spend. Hidden spending by using cards makes it easy. Money is just an abstract and not reality and is therefore, easy to spend.
Make yourself conscious of how much you’re spending and on what and you may find yourself quickly changing habits!
Then you can save up for a down payment on a new car, overpay your auto loan or apply for a new auto loan with the money you save!
For those of you who know that you have a challenging credit situation, please visit Dixie Auto Loans where we have a team of credit specialists ready to help you get approved for a car loan today!