It’s easy to overspend, especially when you can buy things online with a couple of clicks or simply swipe a credit card. But over time, those purchases can really add up.

Approximately one in five American workers run out of money before their next payday, according to a recent survey. And, sticking to a budget is a problem many people have, other research shows.

Fortunately, there are strategies that can help you develop healthier spending habits. Here are six ways to stop spending money.

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Ways to Curb Spending

1. Mapping Out a Budget

Without a budget, you can spend money mindlessly, without thinking much about it. Mapping out your spending patterns and essential expenses by creating a household budget can help you see where your dollars go and figure out where to cut back. In short, it can teach you how to be better with money.

To create a budget, start by tracking your current spending patterns. Check your monthly bank statements or receipts from recent purchases. You can also use a free tool to track your spending, which makes the process even easier.

Identify essential expenses from non-essential ones. Necessary spending includes such items as housing/rent, groceries, utilities, healthcare costs, and transportation. Non-essential costs are things like eating out, leisure travel, and entertainment. You may be surprised to see how small daily purchases — such as eating out for lunch every work day — can add up to a lot of money spent over the course of each month.

Once you figure out how much you tend to spend in each expense category, it may be easier to identify places where you could cut back and reduce excessive spending. A monthly budget can allot specific amounts of money for vital expenditures, savings, investing for retirement, and fun activities, too.

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2. Calculating Hourly Earnings

A night out may not seem like a huge splurge in the moment — especially when compared to your total earnings for the month. But, that same expense can quickly appear more significant, when you tabulate how many hours of work are needed to pay for it.

To figure out your hourly pay, divide your after-tax pay by the number of hours worked. If you get paid twice a month and work a 40-hour week, divide your total earnings by 80 (two weeks times 40 hours).

For instance, a birthday dinner and drinks with friends that costs $200 would translate to eight hours of work if you earn $25 per hour.

Whether that spend feels worth it is a personal decision, but determining how much you earn per hour may provide incentive to stop spending — or to consider carefully before you do to make sure the expense feels worth it.

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3. Understanding What Triggers Spending

Whether it’s the gourmet food section at the grocery store, the Instagram influencer with the covetable closet of clothes, or that friend who drops big bucks on concert tickets, for all of us, the urge to spend can be triggered by emotions and outside influences.

Even something as seemingly innocuous as the physical shopping environment — think in-store displays, prominent markdown messaging, and subtler cues like store layout — can trigger people to want to spend. When figuring out how to stop spending money, it can be key to understand which emotional or psychological cues make you take out your wallet.

There are a couple ways that understanding your spending triggers may help. For starters, you might plan ahead to avoid scenarios that make you more prone to spend. And, when the urge to shell out cash strikes, evaluate whether the purchase is really necessary or if it mainly feels good but isn’t really helping you in the long run. These tactics can help you manage your money and feel in control.

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4. Shopping with a Plan

Of course you can’t always avoid spending triggers. We all have to shop sometimes. Still, it may be easier to avoid the temptation to overspend by creating a shopping list and sticking to it.

For example, going grocery shopping may be easiest to do right after work. But, that time of day may also coincide with when you’re at your hungriest. Hungry shoppers, research shows, tend to buy more non-essential items.

Creating a set list of items to pick up can help you focus on what you really need — rather than buying out of want.

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5. Sleeping on It

Before you buy something, take some time to think it over, rather than impulse spending.

Mulling over purchases can be beneficial. You can impartially evaluate whether you might still treasure the item months down the line, or more or less ignore it once the shopping impulse fades.

Studies show that activities that provide instant gratification, such as impulse shopping, activate feel-good chemicals in the brain. But, if that purchase comes at the expense of your long-term goal to save, buying now could set you up for deep regrets later on.

“Sleeping on it” for a few hours (or even days) may give you some necessary psychological distance from the urge to buy.

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6. Finding It Cheaper

Of course, there are times when you’ll choose to spend money on specific purchases. Comparison shopping may help you cut back on expenses. You may be able to find the item cheaper elsewhere. Or, you might find a similar brand for less.

It’s also a good idea to keep an eye out for discounted pricing. Holding off on a bigger purchase until it goes on sale, at holiday time, for instance, may lead to additional savings.

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Stopping Spending Money Starts with Awareness

Naturally, it’s not possible to stop spending money altogether. But adopting a few smart habits, such as budgeting, understanding your spending triggers, and shopping with a list, could help you take control of your money and spend less.

3 Money Tips

1. If you’re saving for a short-term goal — whether it’s a vacation, a wedding, or the down payment on a house — consider opening a high yield savings account. The higher APY that you’ll earn will help your money grow faster, but the funds stay liquid, so they are easy to access when you reach your goal.
2. If you’re creating a budget, try the 50/30/20 budget rule. Allocate 50% of your after-tax income to the “needs” of life, like living expenses and debt. Spend 30% on wants, and then save the remaining 20% towards saving for your long-term goals.
3. If you’re faced with debt and wondering which kind to pay off first, it can be smart to prioritize high-interest debt first. For many people, this means their credit card debt; rates have recently been climbing into the double-digit range, so try to eliminate that ASAP.

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