
Money mistakes are pretty common. Whether you spend too much of it and make not quite so much of it, whether you are too cheap and have no fun with it or whether youâve made some mistakes and youâre looking to correct those, youâre probably making money mistakes. Since itâs not quite far enough into the year for you to have failed miserably at making your New Yearâs resolutions come true â yet â we thought weâd help you out by sharing some of the biggest money mistakes youâre making so that you can hurry up and quit.
Not Knowing Your Net Salary
When someone asks you how much you make every year, do you just say, â$150kâ since thatâs what shows up on your W2 every year? That might be what you gross, but you net far less than that. By the time retirement savings, insurance costs, taxes and other money is removed from your paycheck every week or other week or whatever, you make a lot less than that. You need to know this since this plays a huge factor in what you can actually afford.
Not Knowing Your Net Worth
Itâs nice to be debt-free and to have a nice savings account, but do you know your net worth? Itâs the difference between your assets and your liabilities. For most people, itâs in the negatives. For others itâs not. Either way, you want this number to be as high as possible, even though you never really thought of it.
Where You Really Spend Your Money
Hereâs a personal example; I spend anywhere from $300 to $700 per week at the grocery store for my family of 6. Now, letâs be honest here. I have one kid that barely likes food at all and will eat carrots, pasta and goldfish all day, every day. I have another who eats anything we eat (she really loves vegetables and salmon) and 1-year-old twins who eat anything, but so very little of it that it doesnât even count yet.
I also feed my aunt/sister (sheâs close to my age and we were raised together) and her 3-year-old son every night since they show up for dinner. That means I apparently have a family of 8. It costs me about $75 per week to buy the food that my kids take in their lunches to school and the rest goes to coffee, diapers, wine and meat. Iâm not even kidding. Itâs ridiculous. So while I knew that amount of money was going to groceries, I didnât realize it was going to more than $200 worth of wine every week (because it doesn’t feel like we drink that much with one or two glasses a night; we forget about our guest)Â â and food for 8.
You have to know where your money is going so you know where you can make it stop. Itâs helpful; I promise.
Photo Credit â Getty Images
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