I QUIT Wasting Money And It Changed My Life

Eliminate wasteful spending and your life will change!

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At an early age, I discovered the concept of wasteful spending and how a huge chunk of the money that we spend is wasted on things that do not provide any value to our lives. It was such a simple concept, but it changed the way I view personal finances. In this video, I discuss five steps on how to cut wasteful spending and enjoy life.

1. Understand What Real Wasteful Spending Is

It's important to know that not all unnecessary spending is wasteful spending, but wasteful spending is when you spend money in irrational ways on things that don’t bring any value to your life. It's an illogical way to use money because by spending it, it is not making your life any better. Examples of wasteful spending are buying chips at a gas station for two times the price or buying towels at Target on impulse when you don't need them. This is the type of spending that you must cut out.

2. Identify Your Wasteful Spending Habits

In order to start cutting wasteful spending from your life, you need to become aware of your unintentional spending habits. And in order to do this, you must see how you spend your money in third person. You must track your spending for at least a month and then analyze it to see the areas in your life that are pure waste. Below is a video of me explaining how exactly to do this.

3. Start Changing Your Habits

Once you identify areas of your life that are wasteful, it is time to put it into practice. This can be difficult to do as it takes a lot of effort and intention; however, the best way to start changing your habits is by spending in cash. When you spend in cash, you are more mindful of your spending because it takes a little more effort than just swiping a credit card. So for every purchase you make, it is important to ask yourself the question, "Why am I buying this?" If there is not a good reason behind the answer, then it is probably wasteful spending and you should cut it out. And overtime as you start to change your habits, it becomes easier and more natural.

4. Decide What Is Important To You

Once you start to identify and change your habits, you will begin having more money because you are not wasting anything. By cutting out waste alone, many people could see a 25 to 50% increase in how much money they have left over because many people waste a huge chuck of what they make. With this extra money, you can start thinking about how you should use it in a meaningful way to enrich your life. It is important to determine what is important to you and focus on using your money for those things.

5. Start Using Your Money To Enrich Your Life

Finally, once you identify and cut out your wasteful spending habits, and then decide what is important to you, you can use your money on those important things you want to add in your life to bring value. You can use the money to live a richer life instead of wasting a huge chunk of your money. Eliminating wasteful spending from my life has allowed me to accomplish many things like traveling, living in different locations, and pursuing things I'm interested. It's allowed me to a much richer life with more money to do what I want.

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[ElAgustin]

What is an unnecessary thing you spend money on that brings value to your life?

[mehDOGIESRATS]

Buy quality stuff because it will last longer

[shumatsuopost]

It's incredible how much money you may save by simply paying attention to your purchasing patterns. Keep it up!

[joycegonzales]

Good video. I hate to waste food, it’s like throwing money into the trash.

[oscarfelix]

I've noticed that so often when I "see" something on Amazon that I think I need, I'll put it in my cart and wait a few days. Amazing how often I'll put it back and then thank myself for "saving" the money!

[redouteshabby]

I actually found that using cash for purchases was the cause of my wasteful spending! No one takes the time to write down what they buy with cash and there is no paper trail for the spending...I was like "wait, where did my paycheck go???" Using your debit card at least shows you where it all went and you can do better next time!

[AnnMitt]

Stop spending $150/mo at the salons. Put that money into a Roth IRA instead. Your 60 yr old self will thank you.

[plappin]

Asking myself "Why am I buying this?" That is GREAT strategy, Austin. In the last month I've purchased two items on eBay (in the clothing category) I ended up returning and I can see that, if I'd asked myself the "Why" question first, I could have saved myself the entire experience. Thankfully they were both returnable. Hopefully, I've learned my lesson.

[Michelle_Emm]

I've been tracking my spending for over 20 year's. I started as an exercise to learn where my money went and I enjoyed it so much I just kept doing it.

[bright]

I love your topic but what I'm amazed at even more is how you keep coming up with new video ideas that centered around the same idea and still keep it interesting.

[rhondalyn]

Excellent video, Agustin! I would love to see an entire video *series* on the importance of spending cash over using a card. My greatest general financial fear at this time is that our society will be forced into using plastic for payment across every segment of our economy. If and when that happens we will be forced to give up every aspect of privacy. Why can't people see that using plastic will turn individuals into robots whose every move can be under surveillance? Convenience is robbing us of privacy. Cash is king!

[janebaker]

Im so glad you made this film because i was getting a bit fed up with videos about shopping at 6pm to get the yellow sticker reduced items, stocking up on lentils and buying from thrift shops even though i do all that. This IS the point of frugal living. To minimise everyday expenses so you can "live out loud". Ive just learned this quote, it was what Emile Zola, the french writer considered the Purpose of Life. I buy plants when i can, the right plants at the right price. My limited (now) amount of gardening is important to me. Money spent on plants is not wasted, to me anyway. Id love to travel more but other circunstances as well as money have stopped that most of my life, but money spent on the experience of travel is also well spent.

[DesertMav]

My unnecessary thing in life that I spend money on is my car. I see cars as a necessity for me since I live in an area that is quite far from an urban setting that has public transportation options. With a vehicle, one can go on adventures, go to work, transport friends and family, but one has to be smart about it.

[ngozinwoko]

Austin just know that not only are you impacting knowledge but you are saving lives. Watching your video I stopped impulse spending, minimize my credit card debt. Guess what this month I went to buy food I could not believe my eyes at the grocery store, my bill was like 40 bucks, I still had a lot of cash left over. And yes people spend money on things they end up not needing. Thanks Austin, keep up the good work.

[PickledHam]

Even tho I am debt free with a cash flow coming in I still tend to dine out to frequently, purchase un-needed junk from Amazon, Walmart. This video has helped me STOP wasting money on frivolous spending. If Dave Ramsey can get me out of debt you my friend can keep me debt free.

[jacquelinemcgowan]

My daughter who was 35years old passed away 2 months ago, it has broke my heart. I am having a plaque made for her which says what she was like, " I didn, t chose possessions but I wanted experiences ", and that is going to be me from now on, she loved concerts gigs shows and travelling and I am so proud of her.
Thank you for sharing your tips etc with us, it had made me think about how i need to be more intentional, begining to hate that word its passed around alot haha but all the same very true.

[moonshynegirl]

Vegetables... I used to buy them and then not always eat them! I started growing my own and now I eat my vegetables.

[tpenzmusic]

This video changed my life, thank you so much, everything you said is amazing and helpful

[padmeasmr]

Something I do that's really useful is writing down what I spend my money for month per month and then go over it and make a ✅ if it's something I would buy again (if I could go back). 95% of what I buy is usually a good choice. It also helps waiting to see if you still want something after a long time or if the desire fades away.

[stuffchat]

Cheers dude! Yes, my problem is for every purchase I ask myself "Do I need this for my survival?" But of course the answer is always no, except for a few food purchases once in a blue moon. But something felt amiss with that. And your video pinpointed that I do need to determine some things not necessary for survival that I do want to do with my money, like travel the world etc. Even though that is not at all necessary for my survival either, well I gotta decide on SOMETHING my money will be good for other than survival. I'll make a list some time and sift through it. Thanks for the inspiro!