What are your spending habits?

Do you think you have good spending habits or bad? Do you know what you spend your money on? or do you honestly not know where the hell your money goes week after week?

Tracking your spending can really help when to comes to making major purchases such as property, but the reality is most Australians do not know where their money is going week after week.

Below are some statistics of just where Australians are spending their money:

$10.5 Billion is spent on beauty related products each year

$14.1 Billion is spent on Alcohol per year

$19.0 Billion goes towards Recreational Activities per year.

In Total Australian households spend an average of $642 Billion on the general cost of living per year!!

No wonder 1 in 3 people lose sleep over financial worries!

In fact, 50% of Aussie women say they find dealing with money stressful and at times overwhelming. Are you one of those women?

There are some simple steps that you can take to reduce the money stress:

1. Know your figures: Be clear on exactly how much money you have coming in to your household and how much money is going out. Record all your figures review these on a regular basis. Use what ever tool that works best for you to record these figures, whether it be a simple spreadsheet of a dedicated budget software. It doesn’t have to be fancy, it just has to be accurate.

2. Be aware of incidentals: If you are really not sure where your money is going then take a small notebook and pen where ever you go and make a record every time you make a payment. Include everything, every time you buy a coffee, magazine, parking fee whatever, write it down and at the end of the week add up how much you are spending on incidentals.

3. Don’t over commit: Money stress can easily be avoided simply by living within your means. Once you know your figures, you will have a fair idea of what you can afford and what you can’t. I know this can be hard…I mean we all want stuff right?? But before handing over your hard earned cash, seriously ask yourself if you need the item and are you going to get money out of that item. Cutting back on buying the little stuff will make it possible for you to afford the big stuff….like a house!

For more Aussie spending statistics head over to: www.moneysmart.gov.au.