Thursday, August 5, 2010

5 Common Habits That Don't Help You

Everyone has some bad habit. It could be anything! The point is, whatever your bad habits are, get control of them before they get a hold of you! Here are some tips to avoiding these five common bad habits that you shouldn’t wait until tomorrow to break..

1. Paying only the minimum balance. Paying just the minimum on your credit card balance every month may keep your creditors happy, but it's not helping you pay off the growing interest charges.

2. Buying a brand new car. If you love that new car smell then take a whiff of how much you've lost in depreciation just by driving it off the lot. New cars depreciate very quickly when they are first sold. Owning a used car is acceptable. Think about it this way: What price are you willing to pay to save money and still have a new car?

3. Smoking. We all know that smoking is terrible for your health, but have you considered what this deadly habit does to your wealth? By smoking one pack of cigarettes a day at an average cost of $5.33 per pack, this common habit can cost $1,945 in just one year. After five years, you've burned through over $9,700 dollars just to light up.

4. Throw money at the wind because of energy costs. Learning to conserve energy is more than a buzz phrase. Chances are, your house is already leaking hundreds of dollars a year in energy costs. Look into what you can do to conserve energy in your home without having to leave it.

5. Ignoring your debt. Stop procrastinating and pay down your debt. Stop waiting for the lotto to set you free! Chances are, you will not win lotto so you need to plan on how to build a strong financial foundation. Keeping debt around and deferring it constantly means that once the interest is accrued and added, you feel nauseous and sick to your stomach. Take a hold of your finances NOW and don’t crawl under a rock. When you finally come from underneath that rock, you will find that the debt has accrued more interest.

If you have any of these common habits featured earlier, stop walking in quicksand. When you want to truly get ahead, you will work methodically to better your financial situation. That means talking toy our creditors and trying to work it out, paying more on credit cards when possible, check to make sure that your house is as energy efficient as possible, and take care of your health and sense of well-being.


Prosper!

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