How mindfulness can save you money

If your money leaves your purse, make sure you know where it's going! 

Every day we have hundreds of spending decisions to make, whether to eat breakfast at home, or whether to grab something to eat on the way to work, to buy a coffee or put up with the crappy instant coffee in the office, whether to take the tube or to cycle the mile from home to office. Whether to buy that vastly reduced price neon pink scarf simply because it's vastly reduced? By the time we've got as far as our desk we've already been bombarded with choices, and that's even before we start with the massive flood of adverts just about everywhere we turn.

So how can mindfulness help? If we are actively conscious of the spending decisions we have to make, and consciously make the choices offered rather than simply moving around on auto pilot, we are likely to stay in touch with our finances and know how much we have (or haven't) got available to spend. It also helps us notice when we're buying something simply because we can buy it and when we have to buy something because we've been caught out of the house without whatever it is that we're having to buy (lunch, coffee, breakfast).

To get back in touch with your finances:

• Be aware of the spending decisions you make each day
• Spend a few minutes planning your daily spend. What's for dinner tonight? Have you got enough of *whatever* to last until next week or do you need to buy a replacement now? 
• What meals are you going to eat? Are you planning on spending money on lunch or are you taking lunch in from home? 
• Are there better offers, like would a weekly pass for the train or bus work out cheaper and less hassle than buying a daily ticket?
• Do you actually read that Sunday paper, or does it simply loiter on the coffee table until next week?
• Keep a spending diary and note down EVERYTHING you spend, yes even that chocolate bar and that cheeky latte.
• Whenever you withdraw cash, make a credit or debit card transaction, write a cheque or buy something online, try being really present in the moment. Don't just sleepily hand over your card, not really thinking about the money you're spending.

As you become more aware of what you're spending and what you're spending it on, it should be possible to make savings as you can become better prepared. It's ok to actively decide to buy lunch out in preference to being caught out without. 

If you find an item and you like it, think to yourself 'Do I really need this? Do I like it or do I LOVE it?' I used to buy items just because I could. Now I buy things because I either need them or because I simply LOVE them. If I simply like them I leave them in the shop.