Sometimes the smallest mistakes can make the biggest impact either in your bank account or in your life. However, there are always ways to avoid mistakes. Sometimes you have to makes them once or twice to learn, but afterwords you should find ways to avoid mistakes in order to save you money. The cost of financial mistakes can definitely add up quickly for anyone involved (as we have recently seen with the current economy).

Here are some ways to avoid simple financial mistakes…

#1. Check Your Accounts Regularly – This is one of the best ways to avoid making mistakes with your bank accounts. If you are on top of your spending and savings then you will never have a problem with your bank accounts. If you overspend or overdraw from one of your accounts, there are always consequences. The fees add up extremely quickly so avoiding the mistake of an overdraft will benefit you greatly.

#2. Keep Your Receipts – You should keep all of your receipts at least for a few months. You never know what type of fee or charge that may show up on your credit card later on down the line and you want to ensure that you have your receipts if something does happen. Also, it is such a waste of money to keep an item of clothing even if you don’t want it just because you lost or threw away the receipt. It does not matter how much it cost you, money is money! If you can get it back instead of wasting it, you should!

#3. Keep Track of Monthly Spending – Know how much your bills, loans, payments, etc. are each month in order to keep the right amount of money in your account. Nowadays everyone has direct deposit and withdrawals scheduled from their accounts. Getting rid of the paper trail also means that it is more likely for you to forget what date payments get taken out of your account and not realize that you do not have enough money in your account. This goes along with #1 in that you should always be on top of what is going on. Keep a calendar that tells you when your payments get taken out and how much each one is.

#4. Remember the Checks You Wrote – Since writing checks has almost become a thing of the past, it is easy to forget what checks you have written until they show up in your bank account (especially when people do not cash them right away and wait months instead!). Keep a mental note to yourself or a post-it note next to your computer that reminds you what checks you have written that have not yet gone through. This way you won’t forget every time you check your account and you should ensure that you always have at least the amount of the check left in your checking account.

#5. Don’t be Foolish – Easier said than done right? But honestly, if you do not have the money to spend then resist the urge. Sometimes you need a pick me up, but spending constantly when you really don’t have the funds for it will just run you into the ground and leave you with never ending debt. It is much, much easier to spend the money than to save it, but when things are tough and the financial future of the economy is uncertain, saving might just be your best bet. Spending some of your saved up cash now and then also doesn’t hurt, just spend wisely!

These five tips may help you avoid some financial mistakes that will be costly later on down the road. Just be sure to remember: it is easy to get yourself into debt and financial trouble but much harder to get yourself out of it when times get tough! An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure…

Photo by: Ronnie B.

Further Reading

• The ABC’s of Budgeting and Finance : A-E (1)
• Why Your Credit Card Isn’t an Emergency Fund (1)
• Got the “Urge to Splurge”? How to Avoid Spending More Than You Can Afford (0)
• Four Things Your Parents Can Teach You about Money (2)
• Goodbye Credit Cards – 5 Easy Steps to Prepare Yourself (5)

Tags: Bank account, checkbook, Credit card, Debt, Loan, money, money mistakes, Overdraft, Personal finance, receipts, Saving, spending, Transactional account

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 1st, 2009 at 5:00 pm and is filed under Credit, Economy, Social/Environmental. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.