Do you spend more money than you intend to? Or does it seem like there’s always more month left than there is money?

If so, you may be falling into a huge spending trap without even realizing it.

The biggest spending trap

The biggest spending trap is this: not realizing what you are doing with your spending. Not paying attention, in other words.

When you don’t pay attention to your spending, you end up selling yourself short. Change that one thing, and chances are your finances will improve — almost like magic.

Escaping the trap

Paying attention to your spending can be as simple as thinking about each dollar as you spend it.

You can ask yourself if what you are buying is worth it, if you are giving up something you want even more by spending this dollar now, and of course whether or not you actually have the dollar available to spend.

Of course you can go further than this too by starting to track spending and listing out the things you want to buy or do with your money, but thinking about what you’re doing is the critical step.

Be intentional with your money, and you’ll get to where you want to be.