I Made These 17 Mistakes With Money So You Don’t Have To

I did this by first accepting that I wanted to be serious about paying down debt quickly. Then, I started to keep track of my spending and budgeted more consistently. What helped me a lot was budgeting in a way that was simple and worked for me, even though I knew it wasn’t perfect.

I had an “out of sight, out of mind” view of money. I’d be too scared to see the damage of how much I’d spent on my credit cards, and I never wanted to check how much was in my bank account. Once I finally looked, I realized knowing the exact numbers — even if they weren’t great — made me feel better than the anxiety of not knowing at all.

I totally didn’t realize how many car-related expenses there would be — and how fast they’d add up. Did you know you have to renew your car registration every year? I didn’t! I ended up having to pay a ticket for expired tabs, the actual cost of registration, plus late fees on top of all that. Ugh.

What stressed me out most about owning a car was when unexpected things happened. I’d go to the mechanic for a simple oil change, and it’d turn out I also needed new tires. Suddenly I’d spent $200 I hadn’t planned for.

Now I’m an ~experienced~ car owner, I know to set aside some emergency money for my car every year, just in case.

I had student loans, credit cards, and a car loan accruing interest without any idea how I’d pay it all off. When I finally decided to tackle it, I ended up doing a mix of two methods: debt snowball (paying off debt from the lowest amount owed to highest) and debt avalanche (paying off debt with the highest interest rate first).

Using undebt.it was a great way to keep track of debt payments, and I found it super motivating.

I always thought I’d need to know as much as a Wall Street banker before I could start investing. I would’ve started years earlier if I knew about Acorns, an app that automatically invests for you. I love it because it invests by rounding up my regular purchases to the nearest dollar. SO EASY.

If $200 came into my bank account, I’d spend $200 instead of trying to save it or pay off any debt. I struggled to get motivated to save money just for the sake of it, but I’ve found it helps to have something to save for. I like using Qapital because it lets me set a savings goal and links directly to my bank account. You get to set different savings “rules,” which makes it kinda fun, and the app automatically puts money towards your goals.

I find it way better to visually see money being saved for exciting things, because saving money for a trip to Bali? AWESOME. Saving money because I should? Boring and doesn’t motivate me.

My first credit card had a credit limit of $6,000. Unfortunately, I saw this to mean I had $6,000 to spend. Spoiler: I didn’t. And then I had to pay it back. With interest.

I used to go shopping without even thinking about deals. If I wanted a new coffee machine, I’d go to Target and buy the first one I saw. If I wanted to go see a show, I’d buy tickets directly from the event website instead of searching around for discounted rates.

Now I know better. I like using cashback apps like Ibotta to get money back when I buy things. I especially love using it for Amazon purchases, since I feel like I’m singlehandedly paying Jeff Bezos’s income. Before I go ahead and buy brand new items, I scour Craigslist or OfferUp to see if I can find what I need secondhand. And I’ll always check Groupon for local deals — I once paid $40 to go to an event where the posted price was over $200!