This post originally appeared onThe Simple Dollar.
Maybe its a bottle of Gatorade at the convenience store or out of a vending machine.
Maybe its an online purchase.
Maybe its another $5 in tokens for whatever your favorite mobile game is.
Maybe its a latte from Starbucks.
Maybe its a lunch out with some of your coworkers.
Maybe its the bill for your Netflix subscription.
Whatever it is, you spend a few dollars on itor maybe a few more than a few dollars.
And then you forget about it.
How can we possibly be broke?
How can we be making this much money and not savinganything?
The reason that this is happening can be summed up in three simple words:lack of self-control.
Breaking out of a routine in which you constantly make those short-term choices is quite hard.
If youre reading this article, though, youve become aware of the dark side of lacking self-control.
At the end of the day, youre left with very little.
Youre unsure where all of the money is going, but youre also very unsure of your own behavior.
You feel out of control.
What do you do?
Here are ten things you could do.
These strategies have bailed meand many othersout of a great deal of financial trouble over the years.
Give these strategies asincereshot.
Youll be glad you did.
Maybe its just a small thing.
Maybe its something you really, really,reallywant.
Maybe youhaveto buy it to impress somebody.
Start making better choices every time you spend a time.
Strategy #2 Ask Yourself Will This Help Me Survive?
Do you reallyneedthat item?
Will it help yousurvive?
Is there a less expensive option that will help yousurvivein the same way?
You should ask this question about every single purchase you make.
You should ask this question about every single item you put in your shopping cart.
You should ask this question about every single bill that comes inand every single line on that bill.
Self-control is born from truly considering the negative consequences of each move you make.
Will this help me survive?
Its a disaster fueled by a lack of self-control when it comes to spending.
The solution, however, is easy:go cash-only.
Stop using your credit cardat allfor a while.
If you dont have the cash in your checking account to cover an expense, then skip it.
Where are your weak points?
It just teaches you avoidance.
Dont take a credit card or a debit card in there with you.
That temptation resistance is the core of self-control.
Build a new chair in your woodworking shop.
Make a scrapbook with the scrapbooking supplies in your closet.
Go on a hike.
Dont buy something as a weak substitute for doing something.
In other words, actually read that stack of books instead of buying more to add to it.
Some of your friends may balk at this.
To this day, I track my spending very carefully usingYou Need a Budget 4.
Others use tools likeMintorQuickento achieve similar results.
it’s possible for you to even do the same thing with a pocket notebook and a spreadsheet program.
Such reviews are almost always an eye opener.
Spend some time really thinking about those areas of spending that shocked you the most.
Did you really get that much life value out of those purchases?
Quite a bit, most likely.
The easiest way to do all that is through automation.
The more automatic you might make these things, the better.
They probably have at least some sense of what makes you ticksometimes even more than you do.
That can result in some very useful, very specific advice that works foryouspecifically.
You might also find a very nice role model in that mix.
you could pick their brains and learn from their experiences, too.
Strategy #10 Dont Give Up When You Take a Misstep or Two
Guess what?
Youre going to make a spending mistake or two while you figure all of this out.
Youre going to buy something without thinking about it.
Youre going to make a purchase that you later regret.
Youre going to feel like this is all impossible.
First of all, dont sweat it.
you might take alotof steps backward as long as you keep pushing forward.
The goal is to strive to do better than you did before.
If you make a mistake, dont punch yourself over it.
Instead, ask why you made that mistake and then strive to not repeat that mistake.
Most of all, dont give up on yourself.
The journey is long.
No long journey is ever completed without some missteps and setbacks along the way.
Ten Useful Strategies for Learning Financial Self-Control| The Simple Dollar
Trent Hamm is a personal finance writer atTheSimpleDollar.com.
Image byBplanet(Shutterstock).
