Few people need to be told not to overspend on credit or debit cards(贷记卡). You know you shouldn’t, even if you always do. What you need are solutions. Whatever your problems with money, you can change—but it’s going to take work. After all, you’re trying to break lifelong patterns. Start with these strategies.
Strategy 1
A lot of people set themselves up for failure because they have a mindset of either indulgence (放纵) or deprivation (克制). If you try to deprive yourself of too much, where you spend almost nothing, then you end up giving up, and you indulge, and then you overspend. So if you have an unrealistic plan, you’re probably going to lose control. Good habits happen when planned; bad habits happen on their own.
Strategy 2
Changing your mindset is effective in solving the problem. Take Smith-Acuna for example. She says she had a couple in therapy who constantly quarreled about what she feels has become a monetary cliché. They would always argue about how much money they were spending at Starbucks. The wife loved capping off each workday with a drink. Ultimately, the wife ended up quitting her Starbucks habit. Instead of replacing her drink with nothing, she got something else, something free, in return.
Strategy 3
It’s a good start if you switch from paying for merchandise and services with a debit or credit card to paying with cash. It’s easy when you’re using plastic to mindlessly swipe and fall into a pattern of not thinking or noticing how much you’re actually spending. You can divide up your money and put it into envelopes, marking down on the envelopes what each pile of money is for. That can make it easier to see where your money is going.
Strategy 4
Get a receipt for every purchase. Breaking up your expenses into categories like food, clothing, housing, medical care and so on, but also labeling each expense as a need or a want. Be realistic as to what is really necessary. A need is something where you would die or go to jail if you didn’t spend the money or ruin your credit. At the end of the month, total up all the categories. Do this, and you’ll be more educated about how much money you actually have, and how much you have left over for fun stuff.
Strategy 5
There is probably a reason you developed bad habits, which are often adopted on the road easier traveled. So if you’re suddenly balancing your bank account every day, or you’re regularly putting money into an emergency fund, plan to give yourself some sort of prize for the past two weeks. You’ve been saving money or spending it more wisely, so you can probably afford it.
Introduction |
l More often than not, knowing we shouldn’t overspend, we still tend to do so. l It’s time we(61)________pains to change our bad shopping habits. l We can use the following 5 strategies(62)________to help us solve problems with money. |
Five strategies |
l Having a mindset of either indulgence or deprivation means going to(63)________, which often leads to failure. l In case you lose control, it’s a good habit to make(64)________plans. |
l Change your mindset. l Without spending too much money at Starbucks, the wife successfully got(65)________of her bad habit by having something else in return. |
l Change(66)________you spend your money: paying in cash. l Swiping a debit or credit card would make you(67)________of the exact amount of money you spent. |
l It is necessary to(68)________ your expenses into different categories. l Tracking your spending helps you understand your actual(69)________better. |
l Since you can save money or spend it wisely, why don’t you(70) ________ yourself with some sort of prize? |