Bad Habits

Just like you after paying our bills, it is our decision to decide how much we save and what we do with our cash and card spending.

In 2022, I was able to put money away for Christmas, a holiday with my daughters for 2023, and a few small home improvements but I didn’t save as much as I should have, because I was wasting too much money.

When I took time out in December, I looked at the way I was living my life and compared it to the way I wanted to live my life – they were completely different!

Since Covid, I was unhappy with the way I was living my life, I knew I had to get back on track, but I just kept putting off.

Nobody was going to make that change for me – I had to start taking action! So, my first goal in 2023 was to focus on my bad habits and work on developing new routines to my lifestyle.

Bad habits are common with most and yes, they can also differ greatly between us all, but I’ve found over the past 20 years when advising clients – bad habits impact:

• Day to day finances
• Energy levels
• Physical health
• Mental Wellbeing
• Financial growth to succeed with life goals.

If action is taken and maintained with our bad habits and lifestyle, the capability we gain to deliver the life we want is alarmingly surprising.

In my end of 2022 open letter to you my message was all about the intention of taking baby steps and taking back control of life and money matters.

My First Baby Step

I looked into a few areas of personal development, but my main focus, was to deal with 4 bad habits which I would like to share with you:

Bad Habit 1 – Smoking

I was previously spending £12.04 a day on cigarettes which equated to £361.20 per month and £4,334.40 a year which is ridiculous.

In January I didn’t smoke for the first 10 days. On the 11th day I was triggered, which resulted in spending £12.04 on cigarettes. In January overall I bought 3 packets and 10 Vapes.

Overall, I spent £86.12 in January, but I saved £275.08 in January on this bad habit.

Bad Habit 2 – Takeaways

In 2022, I often opted for 1 takeaway during the week and 1-2 during the weekend because it was easy, convenient, I was lazy and unorganised which came at a cost of approx. £30 per week, £120 per month and £1,440 a year.

In January, I made time to cook meals and I was eating food that was better than takeaway food, but I did treat myself to just 1 takeaway at a cost of approx. £12.

A total saving of £108 in January.

Bad Habit 3 – Food Shopping

In 2022, I shopped with my eyes and didn’t plan my meals, I was spending on average £90 per week, £360 per month, £4,320 per year on my Supermarket Shopping.

I also found myself throwing so much food away from opting with the takeaway option and skipping meals. I would easily throw £40 of food away each month.

In January, every Sunday I spent 10 minutes making a meal plan and a further 10 minutes making a shopping list for just what I needed.

This approach led to an average weekly shop of £67 per week saving £23 per week with a total saving of £92 in January.

Bad Habit 4 – Being Soft with The Kids

When I was thinking about change for myself, I wanted to help improve the lifestyle of my children. I’ve been too soft with them and gave into a lot of shall I say wants and nagging moments.

In January, there was no McDonalds, sweets, etc. They had a set amount of money to spend on what they wanted and had money spent on family time, and this approach saved me £40.

What I did next

At the end of January, I reviewed my cash and card spending for that month. I figured out I saved a grand total of £515.08 from dealing with these bad habits.

I transferred £250 of this to my savings account for my planned one-off expenditure and £250 to my Investment ISA for my long-term future which is on top of what I already planned to save in January.

The Real Benefit

Financially, this was a great result from just taking abit more control of my lifestyle.

I also felt better in myself, I have more energy, I’m motivated, and my daughters benefit from this also. I’m making progress and I’m committed to keeping it going.

At the end of 2022, I was saying it was time for change, we’re now 1 month into 2023, I’ve taken action with just 1 baby step and I’m already seeing the benefits and I feel I haven’t even started.

The Next Step

These small baby steps have got to be maintained with additional action steps to be taken if I want to achieve the life I want.

I and you will falter and that’s ok – we’re human!

However, our mindset must be in the right place to ensure we identify the slips being made and then put ourselves back on track asap to ensure we don’t go back to living our bad habits.

In February, I’ve already set myself new targets to add to January’s steps and I look forward to sharing them with you.

Purpose of Email

The purpose of talking about my experiences is to not talk about myself. In my 20 + years of being a financial adviser, I have met with so many people who would benefit from stories and experiences like these.

The content of these monthly open letter emails may not always be for you, but they could be of benefit to somebody you may know.

Money Advice Clinic are more than just Mortgage Advisers, Insurance Brokers, and Will Writers based in Preston, we’re also here to help with day-to-day money matters to help you succeed with achieving the life you want.

Finally

If you too are making changes, I would like love to hear your success stories or if you are struggling with trying to make changes with your finances, please remember, I am here to help.

Kind Regards

Paul