I made these silly money mistakes so you don’t have to. So for love of god, watch this video or read this article and don’t do what I did.

I avoided checking my bank balance like the PLAGUE

I had severe anxiety over how large my overdraft was because I knew FULL WELL I’d overspent.

I knew I’d gone out when I couldn’t afford to and knew I’d said yes to social outings that I couldn’t afford – I knew my overdraft would take care of the issue but by actively avoiding logging in, I was pretending that my habits weren’t damaging and subsequently did nothing to change this (and kept the cycle going) for a while. Until my overdraft ended.

By avoiding checking my bank account balance

I also missed the chance to cancel any subscriptions or even check that all the things I was paying for were truly correct.

This includes subscriptions we’ve all forgotten to cancel after a free trial (which I now religiously make calendar reminders for) and probably missed a few missed ASOS returns or double charges from vendors.

Not meal planning

I very vaguely meal plan now atleast once a week, and allow myself 1-2 evenings of no plan to allow a takeaway or a meal out (Edinburgh’s food scene is just irresistable to me).

But by not doing this before, I’d shop based on an evening’s recipe (very expensive when done multiple times a week) or order takeaway more times during the week than I could afford, or buy lunch out when at work – which is bad for both my finances and health.

Being too lazy to go to the post office

Now I’ve seen enough memes and tweets about this to know I’m not alone… but I have got so many clothes with the tags still on. I either didn’t like them or they didn’t fit me, both have wasted money and are wasting valuable storage space…. just because I never made time to go to the post office and return them, and missed the return deadline! What is this about? Why do we put off admin tasks so much?

I think admin tasks that involve leaving the flat and folding laundry I will hate forever. To fix this, I just don’t buy the clothes now. Easy!

In the same breath, letting old electronics and clothes gather dust

If there’s one thing I’ve learnt from doing a lot of secondhand shopping recently, it’s that what others find no value in you could find the world of value in.

Find all the electronics, old camera, watches, even broken things that you could fix up, and clothes as well that you know you don’t wear anymore and ‘want’ to sell – and actually sell them! An easy way to make a bit of extra money and get rid of clutter around your home.

Not learning about personal finance sooner

I genuinely thought I wasn’t old or experienced enough to save, invest or care about what my money’s actually doing for me.

I thought it was reserved for a six figure salary or fancy title at work, but little did I know what I could with my little graduate salary and how much it can empower me!

Buying books on personal finance has actually saved me a lot of money already, and will have generated 1000’s in the future due to the changes I’ve made in my spending habits as a result of reading them.