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My mama always tells me that before spending money, I ought to make sure it'll come back. I understand what she means by that but heck, money spent is money gone. How am I suppose to get that lovely pair of shoes if I don't pay for it, right? What I've learned is that money has the habit of slipping through your hands if you don't have a good grip on it. What complicate things is that the more I earn, the less I seem to end up with at the end of the month. What am I doing wrong?

Let me explain. I used to earn less and I remember getting by fine. After I got a new job and started earning twice of what I used to get, the nice boutique I've been ignoring suddenly looked appealing and irresistible. Overnight or rather, over a couple of weeks, I had acquired this 'need' to dress appropriately. I spent tons of money on clothes (not to mention shoes and bags) that I could wear at work and nowhere else. I had also somehow developed an intense relationship with convenience stores and fast food restos. Eight months later, I have closet full of things and not a single penny in the bank. Here's my list of things to do to ensure you end up where I am:

1. Don't stash money in a savings account.
I've heard and read that automatically depositing at least 10% of your money in an account you're not suppose to touch isn't that bad at all. Since I didn't do the necessary, albeit, simple procedure of talking to my bank about automatically doing that for me every paycheck, even that seemed hard to do. It isn't that hard. If you keep making excuses to yourself or continue to put it off, it'll never happen so do it now.

2. By the way, my pay is coursed through a bank that gave me a debit card. Needless to say, this made my shopping binges convenient and hassle-free. Lesson? If your bank gives you a complimentary debit card with your account, remember to forget it exist and to toss it out. Or opt out of a debit card altogether. Convenience doesn't work if one ignores the fact that money, no matter how easy it may seem to make having a regular job and all, does and will run out if one isn't careful with it.

3. I don't bother with a budget. I hear this a lot but I believe it deserves mentioning again and again - Make a budget and stick to it. It's the single most important step towards managing your finances. Having a fixed amount of money allocated for the month for groceries or personal expenses makes one careful of what and how much one buys. That's the a step to becoming a better shopper and a thrifty one, too.

4. Do eat breakfast at that nice little cafe every morning.
Why not? You can save yourself the trouble of preparing your own breakfast. Plus their latte is simply perfect. That's not a problem until I realized that I have become dependent on the next door cafe and that it is costing me a sizeable amount of money I could have saved if I woke up earlier and prepared a healthier breakfast.

5. Indulge in a little pampering - everyday. I work my fingers to the bone, so nobody can tell me I don't deserve trinkets and things. It's only a few dollars after all. A few dollars that adds up to a couple of thousands a year. Looking at it that way, that few dollars isn't really small change afterall.

6. Think that since you have a good job that pays well, why worry about next month? This one is tantamount to expecting to money to grow on trees. Perfectly foolish. Fact is, unless one owns the business, jobs aren't that secure anymore. Owning a business makes financial savvy even more important. Save now because a penny in the bank today is worth more than two tomorrow.

Learn more about this author, Maria Sheila Chou.
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