How do you control spending?

Do you find yourself spending your paycheck or allowance as soon as you get it? Once you start spending, it can be difficult to stop. So, how do you control it? LifeXtra takes a look.

An adage says ‘A penny saved is a penny earned’. But it seems no matter how much we try to save, we still do not save. Overspending can lead to lots of debt.

“I want to control my spending and save some money this month” is a statement easier said than done. No matter how much effort we put into saving our money, a need might still arise that would warrant spending more than we even bargained for.

However, most people have found a way to control their spending. LifeXtra spoke to a cross section of people and the responses were very interesting.

A respondent who gave her

name as Queen Sarah said she controls her spending by sticking to priorities and what she writes on her list of what she needs. “In other words, before going to the market, I make a list of what I would buy and in some cases do a rough estimate of what each item costs. That way, I am able to control what I spend,” she said. “I control my spending by buying what I need,” Sarah Odee, who resides in Gombe, told LifeXtra. She added “Sometimes I also engage in bulk buying so that I do not have to go to the market every week or two.” Martha Edor, single and based in Makurdi, said she draws up a scale of preference. “That way I am able to curtail the things I buy and it helps me avoid overspending.”

Also speaking to LifeXtra, Mrs. Ekpe Mercy, a Jos-based mother of three said “First of all, I ask myself questions like - Do I really need it? What are the other options? Am I getting my money’s worth? What else can I do with that money if I don’t buy this?”

“With these questions in mind, I am able to create a shopping list then work with it. That way, I ensure that I am not overspending.”

In her article ‘4 Insightful Tips to Control Your Spending Habits’, Guilherme Ribeiro wrote: “Have a Budget - whether you have a daily or weekly budget, it doesn’t matter, as long as you have one. Ideally, you should never go over budget, but if you do, it’s not a problem, as it’s hardly the reason for having one in the first place.”

She added “Ask Yourself Why - To be fair, you always should be assessing your purchases, but it’s even more important to do it when you’re about to buy something. You see, impulse can make us do things we’ll regret as we only think about the consequences afterwards.”