How to Stop Spending Too Much Money

Tired of spending too much money every month and staying stuck in your finances? This simple trick will put you on the road to spending less, so you can stick to your budget, save for the future, and pay off debt.

It’s an ongoing battle.

You make a budget; it seems to work on paper.

Yet by the 19th, you have that nagging anxiety that your budget is about to lose control like a two-year-old on a sugar high.

And at the end of the month, you find there’s nothing left over to put toward your savings goal, or even worse – you have to fall back on credit cards, again.

So you stay stuck in the spiral, unable to take steps toward your goals. All because you couldn’t seem to keep tabs on your spending.

What’s going wrong here?

The answer is simple.

The problem is, you don’t have a fool-proof way to keep tabs on your spending on a day to day basis.

How to Stop Spending Too Much Money - Calculator

Spending Less Doesn’t Always Mean Finding New Ways to Save Money

For most of the moms I work with, groceries tends to be a problem category.

After all, your food budget is likely your biggest variable spending category.

You spend hundreds of dollars (even $1,000 or more if you have a large family) every month to feed those growing bodies, and this gives a lot of opportunities to accidentally overspend.

You try to do your shopping once a week, but you end up asking your husband to pick up some milk and a few other things on the way home from work.

Before you know it, your budgets blown.

Your problem areas might be different. They could be clothes or coffee, or Carl’s Jr. runs.

Related: How to Stop Spending Too Much Money on Food

The point is, the weeks go by, and all you’re left with is a vague sense of dread that you’re overspending, but you don’t have any way to change what’s happening.

You don’t have any real-time information to tell you what’s going on with your budget.


How to Stop Spending Too Much (Even if You Have No Will Power)

For those of you that have gone through Budget Breakthrough, you know that categorizing your expenses daily is super important, but what I want to show you today goes one step further.

If you’re just starting out, the good news is, you don’t have to do an entire budget overhaul to start changing your spending habits.

Typically there are only one or two areas that are the problem.

If you focus in on those alone, you will be a whole lot closer to sticking to your budget each month.

Use a whiteboard or notebook in a visible area of your home to track expenses in your most challenging budget categories, so you can stop spending too much money and stay on budget.
Track expenses in your problem categories in a highly visible area of your home, so you can stop spending too much money and stay on budget.

How Do I Stop Spending So Much Money?

All you need need to do is keep your trouble spending categories at the forefront of your mind – all month long.

  1. Determine the variable budget categories that put you over budget every month.
  2. You need a visible area in your home to track your expenses. They should be displayed where you can glance at them any time of the day.
  3. Write down every single transaction as soon as you get home, and add it to your previous total.

As the saying goes, “What gets measured gets managed.”

Yes, even though my family has been successfully budgeting and achieving our big financial goals for years now, we still have to keep tabs on these two: groceries and restaurants.

Can you tell our family loves food?

At my house, we use a white board that hangs in our kitchen. We use it for school work and kids’ art display, but we also keep a running total of our restaurant and grocery spending here.

By tracking your problem categories, you know exactly how much you’ve spent at any given moment without ever having to flip open your laptop, click on an app, or locate a spreadsheet.

How much do you have left to spend?

The answer is right there staring you in the face.

When you stop overspending, you'll be dancing like a child in a field full of daisies.
When you have a clear view of your spending, you’ll overcome overspending, and be able to race forward to your financial goals.

You get real-time information to help you make good spending decisions before they happen.

So at the end of the month, you’ll be dancing for joy on itty bitty shards of credit card plastic, instead of regretting going over budget.

Plus, your simple spending tracker allows you and your husband to communicate about money without ever saying a word.


What are your top two problem budget categories? Do you think this tracking method will help you stop spending too much on those categories?

Leave a comment and let me know. I always love to hear from you!

shannon Clark, LIFE & FINANCIAL Coach

As a mom, I know what it's like to feel exhausted, overwhelmed by life, and inadequate to meet my children's needs. But I also know you don't have to stay there.

As an author and coach, I've had the joy of encouraging more than 9.1 million moms to find forward motion with their faith, family, and finances — without the frenzy.

Will you be next?