Do These Financial Mistakes Bog You Down as a Mother?
As a mother, it’s often your responsibility to make key financial decisions on behalf of your family. And even if you’ve been successful with this in the past, it doesn’t necessarily mean things will remain the same in the future.
Some financial mistakes are easy to spot and avoid, while others always seem to sneak through the cracks and bite you at the most inopportune time.
Here are five of the most common financial mistakes that have the potential to bog you down:
1. Overspending on Food
There’s no denying the fact that you need to spend money on food. However, you must take steps to ensure that you’re not overspending.
For instance, it’s easy to spend hundreds of dollars at the grocery store, just to find that you don’t want to make dinner one night.
So, what do you do? You head to a local restaurant for takeout. And $75 later you’re wondering what just happened.
Set a food budget and stick to it, no matter what it takes. Yes, it may mean adjusting the way your plan meals, but it’s the right approach in regards to your financial health.
2. Neglecting to Save for Vacation
Everyone likes to get away every now and again. The problem with this is that it’s not cheap to take a vacation.
The best way to protect your finances is to have a separate account for vacation savings. This way, when it comes time to plan, you can compare how much money you have against the type of trip you want to take.
Tip: don’t intermingle your vacation savings with other savings, as this may lead you to spend money that you wanted to save. A separate account is a key to your success.
3. Forgetting to Give to Charity and Other Organizations
Even though you have many expenses to manage, you should do your best to put money aside for charitable contributions (and those to other organizations).
For example, if you’re a big advocate of child abuse prevention, you can make donations monthly or annually.
It’s easy to put these types of contributions on the backburner, but avoid that by creating a budget that includes them. You’ll be glad that you did over the long run.
4. Running Up a High Credit Card Bill
This is one of the easiest financial mistakes to make. You think you’re keeping your credit card spending in check, but what you’re actually doing is running up a high bill that you won’t be able to afford when your statement arrives in the mail.
The best way to avoid this is to keep a constant watch on your credit card account. If you notice that your spending is creeping higher and higher, take a step back to assess your approach. You may soon realize that you can make a few changes here and there to avoid a similar situation in the future.
5. No Emergency Fund
You hope that you’re never faced with a financial emergency, such as an immediate home repair project or mounting medical bills. Unfortunately, you’re likely to face some type of financial emergency during your life.
Rather than continue to worry about this, create an emergency fund. With this, you’ll always have money set aside if an emergency comes to light.
As a general rule of thumb, try to save three to six months of living expenses in your emergency fund. It may take you a while to save this much money, but once you have it set aside there’s no greater feeling in regards to your finances.
Final Thoughts
These are just a few of the many financial mistakes that may continue to bog you down as a mother.
But here’s the good thing: with the right approach, you can leave these mistakes in the past once and for all. By doing that, you’ll feel much better about the way you manage your money in the future.
What are your thoughts on these common financial mistakes? Have they caused you trouble in the past? Do you have a system in place to avoid a similar situation in the weeks and months to come?
