How to Decrease Your Spending

The process of determining your net worth and listing your possessions hopefully made you question a lot of the spending choices you’ve made in the past.

That’s one of the biggest reasons you went through those steps: Not only do you now understand the nuts and bolts of your personal financial decisions, but you also reacted emotionally to your money and how you spend it.

Remember what we said earlier. It’s not how much you make… if you spend it all.

In the end what matters is how much you have left. Even if you don’t make a lot of money, you can live well if you don’t waste what you do earn.

Here’s an example that may help.

Pretend your boss walked up to you and said, “I’m sorry, but we can’t pay you your normal wages this week. We had to cut your net pay by $50.” How upset would you be? You’d feel cheated, and you’d also feel de-valued: You work hard and you have earned what’s coming to you?

Admit it: You’d be pissed.

Now consider a different scenario.

Yesterday you got bored and decided to go shopping because you wanted something to do. You browsed around for an hour or two, and so the trip didn’t feel like a waste, you bought a new sweater for $50. You didn’t need it, but it was on sale and you liked how it…