Even though Sanjay keeps money aside, at the end of the month I feel that I should spend that money from struggling. I think like this at the end of every month which is why I can't save money permanently even if I put money aside. I have shared some of my bad habits in my previous post, I understand things I should give up but still I can't give up those things. The extra travel costs my bike extra fuel which is an extra expense for me as well as eating out at extra restaurants and staying in hotels on long drives which also cost me a lot of money. I understand that there comes a time in life when I shouldn't move around so much but still I know why I can't actually do this. Maybe I wouldn't have to stress about saving now if I could work the way I think.
instead of for instance getting $1800 a month(~$15/h : 40 hours/w then taxed). putting $500 aside at start of month. and then spending the other $1300 on bills, groceries and life stuff and run out before the end of the month to need to then touch the $500 to survive the remainder of the month..
learn to budget it all at the start
look over last 3 months of spending. and categorise it in a spreadsheet
actually have a proper deep look at your spending habits and see where the money actually goes
then using multiple bank accounts. set budgets for it
EG if your groceries average $80-$120 a week
set a "grocery account" that only gets a standing order(auto-payment) from main account of $100 each week as a set schedule in your main account settings.
then when you go grocery shopping only take the grocery account card with you. that way it keeps you within your set budget
many people have no issues having 15 credit cards in their wallets for different loyalty SCAMS
but they never organise themselves to have 6 debit cards with set auto-payment limits to help them budget to never need to touch savings/use credit
just try today to look at the last 3 month of bank statements and put it into a spreadsheet. calculate average spending. and ration it out into different accounts
and just this week see how frugal you can be by buying cheaper brands or not buying non-essentials.. test yourself this week.
see what you can learn about yourself this week
challenge yourself this week. test yourself. make it a game/competition
there are other mindset tricks too
for instance if you are paid say $15/h work
if you can do something this week where it takes you an hour of planning/organising/thinking, that saves you $22.50 the you have managed to pay yourself 1 hour of 'overtime' work at time+half
for instance if groceries takes you 45minutes. but purchase deciding whilst in supermaket can take 15 extra minutes
if you can save $15-$22.50 you have just paid yourself to go shopping instead of working for an hour