Happy October, everyone! To wrap up our month of Tips or Treats (missed some? Check out #TipsOrTreats to catch up!), we wanted to summarize some of the best tips we’ve encountered, and the potential Treats that come as a result of great money management! We hope you enjoyed our Tips or Treats month, and if this summary is helpful please share it on social media.
Tip #1: Avoid impulse spending
This can be a difficult habit to break, but impulse spending can undermine even the best budgets! Spending impulsively can rack up your credit card debt, affect your payment schedules and lead to huge buyer’s remorse and regret. One great way to try to get these impulses in check are to impose a “hold” period before making purchases. If something costs $200, wait a few hours then make the decision to buy or not. If something costs $1000 or more, wait a full week before completing the purchase. All good things are worth waiting for, and if you give yourself time to fully consider a purchase you can feel secure in your decision to buy!
Tip #2: Adopt a spending mantra
This can be a helpful way to evaluate your spending decisions that are less impulsive, but more about convenience or time-saving. It can be hard to keep long-term goals in mind when you’re in the moment living your day-to-day life, but adopting a spending mantra can give you pause for thought before buying that $5 latte or sandwich from the cafe down the street. If you’re saving for a trip, consider “Is this coffee better than that vacation next year?” (fill in the applicable purchases and goals for your situation.). Sometimes, the answer might be yes! But, if you’re checking in with yourself every time you take out the debit card, you can feel confident that your monthly statements reflect your best interests.
Tip #3: Check your interest rate
This is true on any financial account, borrowed or owned! This makes any finance-related decision making very straightforward. Which savings/RRSP account should you open? The one with the best interest rate, of course! (And hey, if you didn’t know, ours are pretty good.) What debt needs to be paid down first? The one with the highest interest rate, clearly. What credit card should you open? Best look at those interest rates, and be wary of the “promo offer only” low interest rates that flip to much higher interest rates after your promo period ends. See what we mean? Ask one question, and suddenly several other money decisions are much more clear!
And here are your treats! By considering all of these financial tips, you’ll be in a great position to “treat” yourself to a small reward. Whether it’s a nice dinner out or a more long-term goal of a vacation, car, or house, keep those treats in mind and celebrate when you can — you deserve it!