How Do You Control Unnecessary Expenditure?

You are right, that entertainment expense is not part of the budget. When we go out to the mall, for sure, there would be an unplanned expense aside from the purchases. Often it would be the movies but sometimes the kids would go to the arcade to play especially with the rides. And in other occasions, my sister would invite us to go with them to the theme park... it's dutch treat though so that's another expense on my cash register.

A week ago, we went to a musical concert as support for my husband's grade school classmate. The ticket was not pricey but we had to eat out so that's a lot of money if you consider the planned budget. Maybe you can say I am a good budget artist for I have an allocation for such unplanned expenses simply because they may be unplanned but they occur so often.

 

I look for free things we can do or attend like free day at the Museum in town, meal deals at your favorite fast food that's going on now, not buying at all and drinking water that I bring from home, going to the library to use internet computers, shopping for only what I need and going to thrift shops for most clothes except under garments. I find Walmart has cheap enough under garments and Ross Dept. store has Senior Discount Day Tues. and they got very reasonable new under garments. I like the free govt. cell phone if you qualify it saves a lot of money. At benefits.gov see if you qualify for federal benefits. Saving is fun and you'll feel better when you can put a little away in your savings every month.

 

Easy. Save the leisure expenses money in a checking account different than essential expenses, don't bring large amount of cash with you. Don't let consumism conquer your will! You don't need any of that to be happy or fulfill your life buying any gimmicky stuff sponsored by shallow celebrities and other ludicrous stuff. Only spend money in leisure that you actually like it, and always begin with the cheap stuff when you are into anything new: Want to learn piano? Buy a cheap midi keyboard first! Cycling? A road bike by a price lower than 500$. Into videogames? Buy cheap classic games that could run well with a lower end PC or an used console. Smoking? Forget cigarettes, vaping is eventually cheaper and less harmful for you.

 

I'm not really worried about that because anytime I splurge and buy something expensive, I make sure I can return it. I almost always so, I get buyers regret like hell! Everything looks so damn good in the store! I get it home and it looks horrible, so I take it back.

 

I think the easiest way to avoid spending money when you don't need to is by using cash only when shopping. When you leave the house you could take with you only the cash you intend to spend or the exact amount of money you set aside for "miscellaneous" expenses.

This is why I like the strategy where you allocate a certain amount of money to spend in a day. Once you hit the limit, you have to wait till the next day even if it means going hungry.

 

One way to control unnecessary expenditure is to remind yourself that you have bigger goals and that wasting your money on things that will only give temporary and superficial satisfaction will delay the achievement of those goals. I do recognize that entertainment is part of life and for this reason, not all forms of entertainment can be categorized as unnecessary spending, Sometimes, you can charge that spending as investment in the future in the form of better relationships with family members and friends. My trick is to allocate an amount for entertainment and recreation every month and spend within that budget.

 

To prevent myself from buying unecessary items I try to take the amount of money I know I will need, just a bit extra incase my calculations aren't exact. Before going out I try to eat something at home and take some juice or water with me. There are times I buy something extra but that is only if they are on sale.

 

One of the things I do to stop my expenses is but not having parties in my home. I don't throw house warming parties. Even if I throw such parties, I will never have alcoholic drinks. Alcoholic drinks is one of the major factors for unnecessary expenditure. I try not to have birthday parties in my home. When I have to I will make sure to spend less. I woul servce food that costs less money.

 

That's exactly the reason why I have not watched a movie in the cinema for the longest time, I find the movie tickets nowadays too expensive. So to save money, I just buy pirated Blu-Ray discs, which are of good quality, plus I can watch the movie again if I wanted to. And I completely stopped buying original CD's for more than a decade already, opting to just download mp3's for free.

 

When it comes to spending, I am proud to say that I am not just frugal but also prudent. Making a major purchase like appliances takes a lot of time because I want to be sure. As I had posted in another thread, it took us more than 1 year before finally deciding on what new car to buy. Now the CCTV is a necessity and we have entered into a contract for installation tomorrow. The package is $500. It took us more than 6 months to finalize the acquisition of cctv. You can guess that whenever we buy out of the ordinary, I do some sort of checking if we really need that product or service otherwise, let’s take a rain check.

 

Controlling expenses is hard to do unless you practice a lot of self discipline. My husband and I just had a weekend getaway that we had save for during the last few months. To keep from overspending while we were away, we pulled out a set amount of cash and only used that on our trip. It worked out well because we were able to plan our meals and knew how much cash we had available to spend on buying things and other entertainment. I do not think we pulled out any of our cards the entire trip. I agree that using cash for items is the best way to go because people have a tendency to aimlessly swipe cards.

 

Your reply cracked me up. Maybe in your region, purchasing products and returning them works perfectly, but it does not work that easily in the African region. The only reason one can return products purchased, and it even has to be in big stores, is on the ground of the particular product not working as expected.

Back to the issue of unplanned expenses and entertainment budget, I overcame that impulse spending just by keeping my credit cards at home during weekends when I go out with friends or on a shopping. I just withdraw the needed fund I feel like spending on my way out and that is it. If it finishes, I have to go home and know my weekend spending is over. It is tough, but that was how I disciplined my spending habit.

 

I completely understand what are you trying to say. I just was thinking how the uneconomical spendings on the luxurious objects can bring one to its own demise. It is not a surprize that people who live above their own abilities usually end up in debts and without any money.
If I don't have enough money, I don't go into my credit for any entertaining thing. I simply do not go shopping. INstead, I wait for the better time and it usually it is a great decision.

 

If you have Smartphone then try to install apps like say Walnut, Mint or any other app that controls the expenses. Most of such apps keep track of the credit and debit card purchase. And it can tell you when you are doing the shopping overboard. That's the way you can control a lot of expenses. I'd say you should keep eye on daily spending. As that collectively affect your expenses.

 

Well I guess everyone needs a little fun sometimes. I know when I was younger I used to spend my last penny on having a good time when I lived at home with my parents but now I'm older and responsible for daily needs I realise if I can't afford it then I don't have it. It doesn't mean I don't have the occasional treat but now I exercise more control over the spending.

 

It's a matter of priority and it takes a discipline of you want to cut those trivial or unimportant expenditures. Nothing is impossible if you are determined to do it. Money is easy to spend and it is hard to earn. Therefore, it should be spent to important things and needs, and not of wants.

 

I agree with you that the entertainment costs are not included and they are sometimes unexpected. What I do is have self-control not to spend money too much on entertainment by motivating myself about my goals. Also, I will have some money only for the entertainment each month and make sure it doesn't go beyond that. That money will be for my emergency and unexpected situations as well.

 

You can't stop it but you are able to control it, always be weary and careful with your spending regardless of the situation or the even thus not consuming your savings.

 

Unnecessary and unplanned spending is one of the major cause of one running out of fund when it's not expected and to me there is only one way that I rid myself of falling victim of such circumstances and it's keeping a special separate fund for any unexpected expenditures that may crop up which really needs to be addressed and also having a discipline that once that fund is exhausted not to look for another means of financing such expenses.

If you can't control your spending, believe me that going bankrupt is the next thing lining up for you, and it's not a good feeling to stay without having any money either cash at hand or saved in the bank. So therefore, it's wise to resist the urge to always spend whenever the need arise in order to be on a safe side.