6 Life Hacks To Start Saving More Money

As a busy young professional who aims to be fiscally responsible and money savvy, I realized I needed to change my habits. Here are 6 habits I changed to save more money:

1. Pre-plan restaurant outings. When I get invited to eat out with friends, I show up a lot more prepared. Instead of getting there and being shocked by the price, I take a look at the menu online before I arrive and come up with a maximum dollar amount I want to spend. If I know I don’t want to spend more than $25, then I’ll think twice before I order another round of drinks or that extra appetizer I know I don’t really need. I spend less money if I set a limit for myself beforehand. 

2. Decrease the amount of times I go to the mall. Most people who know me, know that I loveeeeee to shop at Express. They have cute business casual clothes for young professionals and quality dresses for an occasional night out. As a med student I could never seem to resist their sales and if things were magically 40% off, I usually bought up the whole store. Since I knew I couldn’t curb my self-control, I did something even better. I refused to let myself walk by the store. In fact, I decreased trips to the mall altogether.  I now only go to the mall once a month for make up and any other personal grooming things. Since my self-control wasn’t the best I had to avoid putting myself in situations that constantly tested my limits.

3. Remove text alerts from clothing stores. If you know me, you know I love a good sale. Getting a sale price for a quality item is something that brings me immense joy. Anytime I got a text alert from one of my favorite stores notifying me of a sale it was hard to resist. When I realized I wanted to start spending less money, I changed this practice. I turned off the text alerts to my phone and send the sale notifications to an email address I didn’t check as often. That way, when I actually needed to buy something from the store, I still had access to valuable coupons, but was no longer inundated with them every couple days via text message.

4. Drink less alcohol. I’m not addicted to any drinks and don’t particularly care for hard liquor, like many young professionals I know, I love wine. Something about a glass of red wine after dinner alleviates my stress and makes me feel like a success. Unfortunately, this craving for wine was costing me a lot of money. Drinks were overpriced at bars and weekly wine bottles were starting to add up. In an effort to spend less money and lower my grocery bill I deceased my wine intake and started drinking less wine

5. Purchase things in cash. A couple years ago I noticed that I spent less money when I purchased things in cash versus when I bought things with a debit or credit card. When I swipe for a payment it can seem a bit passive. There is something about physically seeing the money leave my hands actually makes me want to spend less. Anytime I pay in cash I question whether I really need what I’m about to purchase. With a debit card, I typically don’t have that doubt check system into place.

6. Take advantage of free  and low cost entertainment. When I was a med student on a large college campus and even now as a resident in an urban city, there are tons of affordable entertainment options, especially on Friday nights. Instead of paying to go out somewhere, my friends and I decided to go to some of the free things. Our med school college campus had a bowling alley that was free on Fridays. Occasionally, they had art and painting classes that were also free. Sometimes we would even go to sporting men’s football games or women’s gymnastics meets which were relatively affordable as well. During the warmer months, we could rent Kayaks on the lake or do a movie night with popcorn at someone’s home in the winter. Either way, these affordable sources of entertainment were saving me money.

What do you think of these habits? Are there one or two life hacks from above that you could start adopting in your own life?

The Power of Focus: Pick your ONE thing

As young professionals who have overcome the post-grad struggle and are finally starting to build our careers, we understand the value of money. It may not be the only thing we care about, but having enough of it to live well and enjoy life with our loved ones is essential. Instead of mindlessly spending money then awaiting our next paychecks, we should re-examine our habits and utilize the power of focus.

Step 1: Determine your top 5 “big” goals.

While the devil is in the details, it’s often helpful to start by looking at the bigger picture. A few times a year I sit back and think about my overall financial goals. Although this can seem a bit esoteric initially, it doesn’t have to be. Simply identify your most important financial goals. As a young resident physician my top 5 goals are to:

1-Be completely debt-free;

2-Own a home;

3-Take international vacations;

4-Give to charity;

5-Be financially independent (aka have the flexibility to work less without worrying about money)

What are your top 5 financial goals?

Step 2: Write down a few things you must do to achieve them

Once you determine the financial goals that are most important to you, write down ways you plan to achieve these goals. For me, that means tracking my spending and sticking to a budget. It means saving a percentage of my income each month and investing money towards retirement. If I’m being honest, it also means staying away from the mall so I’m not tempted to buy cute clothes and new dresses whenever my favorite stores are having a sale. It even means forgoing the temptation to buy things online after seeing new home décor ideas on Pinterest. Most importantly, it means eliminating any consumer debt and having the self-control not to accumulate more in the meantime. What are some things you must do to reach your larger financial goals?

Step 3: Choose one thing to change about your finances over the next 6 months

To be honest, I’m eager to become financially independent. I wish I could snap my fingers and erase my massive student loan debt and have millions saved for retirement. Don’t we all? Unfortunately, life doesn’t work that way. Realistically speaking, it will be about 10 years before my student loans are paid off or forgiven. I’ll be well into my 30s before I can comfortably purchase my dream home and in my late 40s before I can truly become financially independent. Although both of those goals can seem far away, there are several things I can do now to put myself in a great position going forward. However, trying to do all of them at once can be daunting and unsustainable.

I’m the type of person that needs to see progress. I need to feel as though the sacrifices I’m making (aka the cute clothes I’m not buying and lavish vacations I’m trying hard not to book) are actually worth it. Thus, I find it helpful to focus on one thing. Choose one change you want to make in your finances over the next 6 months, whether that’s trying not to spend more than $100 on take-out, putting $300 into a savings account every pay period, or contributing 10% of your salary towards retirement. Choose one thing to stick to over the next 6 months. My one thing is eliminating the credit card debt I accumulated in grad school.  What is your one thing?

Step 4: Laser focus on that one thing

Once you pick your “one” thing. Laser focus on it. Since I’m someone who loathes consumer debt, I’m laser focused on eliminating it. How? By literally throwing money at my credit card balance each month. As a resident physician, I’m definitely not making the doctor salary people google online, just yet. I don’t drive a Tesla, own a large home, or spend money frivolously without remorse. However, as a single person with no kids, who is an employed physician, I make enough to pay off my credit card debt. In fact, despite having a negligible “minimum payment,” I send in a several hundred dollars each month and should be credit-card debt free by the end of the year. I realize everyone’s financial situation may be different, but we should all laser focus on one thing. In what way do you plan to do this?

My point? Instead of getting bogged down by large goals that seem far off, I have found it helpful to focus on one small goal every 3-6 months. I like to see progress and achieving these small goals will give me the momentum needed to continue along the journey to reaching my larger goals. What do you think? Is this a strategy you believe will work for you?

How to get ahead in your finances: Pay yourself first.

If you’ve ever delved into the world of personal finance, you might have heard of the phrase “pay yourself first.” In fact, many investment gurus mention this approach as one of the keys to getting your finances on track and building your net worth.

What does “paying yourself first” mean? This concept can seem confusing initially, so let me break it down. Paying yourself first simply means making yourself a priority. It’s actively choosing to invest in things that build your net worth before you spend money on anything else. 

Pro Tip: This can be hard to do at first. As responsible adults, our first inclination may be to pay our bills, buy necessities, and use whatever is leftover to “invest in ourselves.” The problem with this approach, at least for me, was that there never seemed to be any money leftover. Some unexpected expense would occur or I’d end up spending money on something else that didn’t even need. I never seemed to have money leftover to save or invest. “Paying myself first” helped me change that. Now, instead of spending the majority of my check and wondering where my money went, I do things differently. I invest in myself first, then use the leftover money to pay my bills, reserve money for food and transportation, and spend the remainder on entertainment and incidentals. 

How is it done?  Do exactly what it says. Pay yourself first. In other words, the very first thing you do when you get paid is use a certain percentage of your check to build your net worth.  This means having a set amount of money reserved for the sole purpose of paying down debt, saving for retirement, or investing in other types of lucrative deals. When you reserve money for these purposes, you are actively investing in your future in a way that builds your net worth and puts you in a better position financially. 

Pro Tip: Make this automatic. Outline a budget of your monthly expenses and estimate how much you can afford to save for retirement or use to pay off debt each month. This can be anywhere from $5 to hundreds of dollars each pay period and beyond. Once you have a set amount that you can spend on investments and debt pay down, go into your mobile banking app and get this amount automatically deducted from your check the same day you get paid. Doing this ensures that you are “paying yourself first” and makes building your net worth a priority. It also prevents you from spending your “extra” money on things you don’t need.   

Why does it work so well? Most of know we need to invest in ourselves. We realize that having money is important and that spending all we earn isn’t the wisest thing, but sometimes life can get in the way. Either that or our bad habits can stop us from doing what we know is right. It’s this reason that the concept of paying yourself first was born. It forces us to implement the strategy of investing in ourselves before we do anything else, especially when set up this automatic withdrawals. Unlike other strategies, this method doesn’t rely on our own self-control or fail due to our lack of self-discipline.

Pro Tip: Before I got my first paycheck as a doctor, I set up the payroll from my job in way that would virtually ensure that I achieved my financial goals. The first thing I did was determine what percentage of my income I wanted to store away for retirement and choose the index funds I wanted to invest in to help my money grow. Then, I went to the “banking” part of my work payroll website and decided that I would have 25% of my check directly deposited into an entirely separate savings account. I use the money in this separate account to pay down debt and save up an emergency fund. Because I don’t have a debit card for this account, it’s almost impossible for me to spend this money. Since I don’t really “see” this money in my main checking account, I’ve gotten use to living on the remaining 75% of my take-home pay. 

My point? Paying myself first has helped me in so many ways. I’m investing in my retirement without even thinking about (since my retirement contributions are deducted before I ever get my check). I am also saving more money than I ever have before. I have a separate account for travel that I can now use to pay for my future vacation(s) in cash. Plus, I have paid off a substantial amount of credit card debt that I had from my years as a graduate student. This combination of paying off debt, saving money in separate accounts, and investing for retirement is helping me build my net worth faster than I ever would have thought. As my net worth increases, my credit score gets better. Paying myself first has given me reassurance that I’m on track to reach my financial goals.

Tell me, in what ways do you “pay yourself first?” If you haven’t yet started, is this something you’d be willing to try? 

Yes I’m a Doctor, yes I still live on a budget: 4 steps I took to change my spending habits

To the outside world, I’m a rich doctor who can buy what I want. In reality, I’m a sleep-deprived resident physician struggling to keep my head above water. No one told me life would be like this, at least not before I started taking out tens of thousands of dollars in student loans each semester, but I digress. The point is that even [future] high-income earners like myself need to have a budget. Without one, our money disappears faster than a post-call resident leaving the hospital. 

Unfortunately, realizing I needed a budget and actually creating one were two different things. Like a diabetic struggling to shed those unwanted pounds, it takes time to actually move from one step to another. Coming to terms with the fact that I work super hard and still can’t afford all the things I crave is its own beast that has taken me several attempts to tackle. Just in case some of you are in the same boat, let me shed some light on my own come-to-Jesus moment.

Step 1: I had to let go of my pride and accept that I was spending too much money. 

I’m almost ashamed to admit, but a few years ago I didn’t think a budget was necessary. I thought they were for poor people living paycheck to paycheck. Now that I’m a doctor living paycheck to paycheck I have a lot more sympathy (and humility too). It wasn’t until 6 months ago that I finally let go of my pride and began to accept that my habits needed to change. I was tired of running out of money at the end of each month. I was tired of relying on my credit cards for basic living expenses or holding my breath every time I had to pay for an oil change. 

Step 2: I had to sit down and actually write down my budget.

Honestly, I think the only reason I finally sat down and tried to make a budget was because I had this incredible distaste for debt. I had heard horror stories of older doctors whose student loan burden was sapping all of the happiness they once had with their jobs. It’s as if their lack of financial independence had turned the job they once loved into one they despised. I didn’t want that to happen to me. I wanted to know that my bills were paid on time each month and that my credit card debt was getting smaller and smaller. I wanted to make sure all my bases were covered. Creating a budget was one of the first steps I took to get on the right track. 

Step 3: I had to download a budget app to track my spending, and actually check it. 

Sounds simple, but for me, this was not an easy feat. The anxiety I had even thinking about opening Mint.com is one I cannot even begin to describe. But...I got through it. Slowly but surely I began to look at the numbers. I saw how much money I was actually spending on food each week. How my impromptu trips to the mall resulted in unnecessary clothes and holes in my budget. How the Uber rides, overpriced drinks, and club fees from weekend shenanigans added up to much more than I anticipated. I finally opened the app, stared at the numbers on the screen, and faced the fact that my spending was out of control. 

I was barely staying afloat and knew I had to do better. I couldn’t use the fact that I was a med student living on loans as an excuse. The spending habits I had wouldn’t magically change once I started getting paid as a resident physician or even as an attending physician. I needed to get rid of the bad behavior now, so that when I do experience an increase in pay in the future, I don’t just squander my wealth. 

Step 4: I had to put boundaries in place and stick to them. 

It wasn’t enough for me to track my spending each month. I needed to put some protections in place to “save me from myself.” I opened mint.com and set up budget notifications that send an alert to my phone whenever I’m nearing my weekly allotment for food or entertainment. For example, if I limit myself to $100 every two weeks for transportation, the app will send me an alert whenever my Uber rides approach the $80 mark. That way I know when I need to forgo that weekend party invitation and maybe host a game night at my place instead. I was well-intentioned before, but setting boundaries through budget apps and spending notifications has really challenged me to stick to my goals.

Full disclosure, I am still a work in progress. There are times I ignore those alerts only to face regret when I log into my bank account afterwards. Thankfully, those times happen a lot less frequently than they used to. When it comes to my spending habits, I am far from perfect. I still struggle, but by simply making these 4steps my spending habits have improved exponentially. 

Tell me, what steps have you taken to improve your spending habits? What was it like when you first tried to make a budget?

8 Affordable Ways To Take a Vacation

It’s summer time and most of us would love to take a vacation. Unfortunately, planning and actually paying for a vacation can be tough, especially for medical students and young professionals who are on a tight budget. Here are a few things I did to lower costs when I traveled:  

1.     Travel during a different time of the year. Most people like to travel in the summer. The weather is nice, kids are out of school, and it’s easier to take time off from work. However, vacation prices are usually more expensive in the summer. To cut costs and save money, I tried to go on vacation during other seasons. Going to warmer places in the spring not only saved me money but also spared me from the insufferable summer heat. Planning tropical vacations in the winter allowed me to escape the cold weather and snow from up north.  

2.     Find cheaper flights. Call me crazy, but I do not have allegiance to one airline. I try not to make myself suffer through a flight on Spirit or Frontier but besides those two exceptions, I’m open to booking an affordable flight on just about any airline. In fact, I have a separate email address I use for coupons and store discounts. Before I book a flight, I look through those emails for any discount codes, then search kayak or google flights for cheap round trip tickets.

3.     Use Airbnb instead of hotels. As a female physician in her late 20s, I like a certain level of class. I’m not a huge fan of hostels or sharing a bathroom with random people I’ve never met. I left the dorm life in college and I do not want to go back, ever. Airbnb is different. The last two times I’ve traveled out of the country (to Puerto Rico and Mexico) I’ve stayed at an Airbnb. The places were clean, the hostess was reliable, and I had zero issues. Plus, it was drastically cheaper than hotels or resorts and was conveniently located within walking distance of the places I wanted to visit. If you’re traveling with a family or in a group, Airbnb’s can save you lots of money and even provide that “home away from home” feeling that is hard to recreate in a hotel.

4.     Travel with people. Vacations are cheaper if you can split the cost with other people. Sleeping 2-4 to a room drastically lowered my cost per night. Sometimes I would even split an entrée with a friend at a restaurant if the portions were large enough. Traveling with friends can decrease your lodging and food costs, and the make the trip even more enjoyable.

5.     Visit friends and family. If you’re working a tight schedule and can’t coordinate your vacation time with other people, consider the alternative. Go visit your friends instead. As a medical school graduate, I have many classmates who are starting jobs at various places around the country. In an effort to save costs (and maintain the friendship) why not go visit them? It might be nice to go skiing in Utah, hike the mountains in Colorado, or attend a Seahawks game in Seattle. Visiting close friends in other places will not only provide me with a place to stay but will also allow me to explore a new area with people I enjoy. Win-Win.  

6.     Search Groupon. Once I’ve settled on a vacation area and found affordable lodging (or a friend’s couch), I need to also search for things to do in the area. One of my favorite apps for finding affordable entertainment in a new area is Groupon. On this site, I can find discounts for almost anything. When I went to Napa Valley, my friend and I got a private wine tasting at one of the most beautiful vineyards for only $25. When I was in Georgia, my mom and I got spa and massage deals for half the price. That site has discounts for almost anything you can imagine.

7.     Think about going to a conference. This may sound random, but hear me out. As a physician, and even as a student, there were tons of medical conferences each year across the country. From general medical organizations like the AMA to specialty specific organizations and recruitment trips, each year of medical school I attended at least 1 conference in a different state completely free. As a resident physician, I get CME (continuing medical education) money that I can use to attend conferences. Instead of forgoing this money or spending it on phone apps I may never use, I decided to allocate this money for conferences that just-so-happen to be in a place that I want to visit (wink-wink). Regardless of your profession, ask your colleagues if there are educational conferences your job could help you attend. Doing so may allow you to travel to a new place completely free.

8.     Consider a cruise. As a person who went to medical school in Florida, cruises were a viable option. I only lived a couple hours from many of the major ports, which means I didn’t have to spend money on a flight to get to the dock station. Cruises are usually all-inclusive, so I also didn’t need to worry about lodging or food. There was free entertainment on the boat (i.e. Comedy shows and dance clubs). Plus, I had the opportunity to get off the boat each time we docked at new country. Cruises can certainly serve as an affordable vacation.

Tell me, what tips do you have on ways to take more affordable vacations?

Money Moves I Should Have Made As a Grad Student

As the saying goes, “Hindsight is 20/20.” Looking back over my time as both a grad student and a medical student there are a few things I wish I would have done differently to put myself in a better position financially.

1.     Set up automatic withdrawals for recurring monthly payments. This may seem obvious, but as a female in her early twenties who did not have much experience paying bills, this was not common sense to me. I didn’t like the idea of money coming out of my account automatically and always feared that an if an emergency occurred I might need the money that had already been automatically deducted.  As a result, I would often rely on my memory and attempt to pay my credit card bill, car note, and cable bill on time. Unfortunately, that didn’t work too well.  

I would occasionally forget to send a payment in by the due date and have to call the company in a panic to pay over the phone and beg to get the late fee removed. After a few months, I started setting alerts in my phone to remind me of the payments. This worked well most of the time, but I still missed a few payments. Not because I did not have the money, but because sometimes I would be busy doing something else when the alert would go off. I would then silence the alarm notification and forget to pay the bill later. Finally, I let go of my pride, saved up a small emergency fund to ease my worries, and set up monthly automatic withdrawals. The moment I did that, my life got so much easier. I started doing that about 3 years ago and I don’t think I have missed any payments since then. I paid off my car shortly afterwards and my credit score improved. It’s amazing how much better things got when I relied less on my memory to pay monthly expenses.

2.     Cancel unnecessary [cable] subscriptions. You may be already doing this, but I’ll be honest and say I was not. Many people do not rely on cable and would rarely use it if they had it. I am NOT that person. I love tv. Not because I have an abundance of time to watch it, but because when I can spare a few minutes watching it, I’m better able to relax. I love being able to come home and marvel at the homes on HGTV, watch old comedies to get my mind off of a stressful day, and cheer on my beloved Duke Blue Devils during basketball season. Cutting cable was never something I even remotely considered. From my perspective, it was a necessary stress reliever and source of enjoyment.

Instead of just accepting this as fact and sending Cox Cable $100 a month, I should have done more research. It wasn’t until I was a 4th year medical student that I learned about services like YouTube TV which would allow me to watch live TV for around $35 a month. It also wasn’t until I was 4th year med student that I learned Hulu was free with my $5 student-Spotify account and had a live TV option that was cheaper than cable. If I had simply done more research sooner, I could have saved hundreds of dollars and still maintained my same standard of living. If only I could go back in time...

3.     Consider side hustles for additional cash. As a medical student I could not work. In fact, I think they made me sign some form agreeing to not accept any full-time positions as a student. As a 4th year medical student, I had much more time than I had the previous 3 years of medical school and should have considered side hustles or other ways to increase my cash flow. When I graduated, I desperately wanted to travel the world and make the most of my freedom before starting my first hospital job, but I also needed money for moving expenses. Having money saved from babysitting or some other side hustle would have been very useful.

Ironically enough, some of my friends who had already started their respective careers, told me about things they were doing to supplement their income and fund their tropical vacations. One was getting paid to test out new hair products on Instagram. Another was teaching English to kids online and tutoring current students on academic subjects she had mastered. A few others had created online blogs that were starting to gain traction, offering personal training services to people trying to get fit, and making diet plans for clients seeking to change their eating habits. I even knew of someone who charged people for consulting advice on how to manage finances and invest in the stock market. Regardless of the route, I wish I started thinking about my potential side hustle earlier. Even though I am starting my career as doctor, the high-paying salary is still years away and I needed cash sooner rather than later. Having a side hustle is a great solution to that problem.

4.     Make friends with people who are good with money. We pick up habits and emulate the behavior of our friends. Although the people in my life are amazing, I did not have anyone close to me who was “money savvy.” Most of us were in the same boat with similar spending habits. In fact, with my background in finance and passion for investing, I was the person all of my friends went to whenever they had questions about money. I wasn’t necessarily lacking in knowledge, I simply needed someone to help me implement some of the wise money practices I wanted to create.

I wanted a person around me who had actually created a budget they could stick to without getting discouraged. Someone who would caution me to think twice before splurging on a dress I didn’t need and advise me not to purchase overpriced food from restaurants that I could make at home. Since I didn’t have this ideal person, I decided to seek it out in the people closest to me. I started talking to my brother who showed me a few budgeting tools and apps that could help keep me motivated along the journey. I then let my friends know about my savings goals and we all made a pact to save and invest a similar amount of money each month. Having this kind of accountability and support has helped me so much. I wish I had thought of this sooner.

Tell me, was this helpful? What money moves do you wish you had made as a college student? 

Money Moves I Wish I Made as a Grad Student, Part 1

I started my master’s degree in public health before going to medical school. The courses I took in the program were incredible and I learned a great deal about how to improve community health. Unfortunately, I went into debt during the process. The program wasn’t cheap, and I hadn’t yet acquired the self-discipline to practice basic money management. Needless to say, I made quite a few financial mistakes. Although I learned valuable lessons, here are some things I would do differently if I could do the process all over again.

1. Reconsider where I live. Cost of living matters. As a young 22 year old who had just finished undergrad and had zero financial worries, I didn’t give much thought to the cost of living. All I knew was that I wanted to move to Washington, DC and use my newfound public policy degree to “change the world.” Although I did end up working in policy and doing some pretty cool things, I certainly did not change the world. What I did change, however, was my financial status.

   Living in DC was incredibly expensive, especially for someone like me who had never paid a bill in my life. I was sharing an apartment that cost $1800 a month (not including utilities) and was a health policy intern barely making $10 an hour. It didn’t take me long to realize that I needed more income. After my dad refused to let me use his credit cards to cover my expenses, I soon got a second job working nights and weekends at a workout gym. Despite having two incomes, I still struggled. Although these hard times taught me grit and compassion for the less fortunate, life would have been much easier if I had moved to a cheaper city closer to my family and friends.

2. Avoid credit card debt and lifestyle creep. This much easier said than done. As a grad student with student-loans that seemed to always run out before the semester ended, I found myself running short on funds. Pair that with multiple credit cards and a lack of self-discipline and you’ll quickly see how I accumulated a substantial amount of debt in a short amount of time. For starters, I was living in one of the most expensive cities in the country (Washington, DC). Everything from groceries to basic public transportation was much more expensive than it was in the south where I was from.

   Secondly, after 12 months of struggling, I had upgraded my jobs and was now getting paid almost double what I was making before. Although I was still barely making ends meet, I had so much more money in comparison to the year before that I upgraded my living situation. Instead of staying in my crappy, bug-infested apartment, my roommate and I upgraded to a sky-rise in the middle of the city. The hardwood floors and marble countertops were nice but came with a pretty hefty price tag…$2300 a month. Although I had started my masters degree and now had access to student loan money, I was using that money to pay for my expensive private school tuition at the Milken Institute for Public Health and naively relied on credit cards to fund basic expenses when the money from my jobs ran short. I would always tell myself that I would pay off the card at the end of each month, but sometimes that didn’t happened. There always seemed to be something else more important that I needed to spend that money on. At the end of the year I found myself nearly $4,000 in debt.

3. Make a spending budget. Part of the reason I started racking up credit card debt was because I had terrible spending habits. I had these terrible habits because I never had to make a budget before graduating from college. Even though I worked part-time in undergrad, my father paid for my room and board and even provided a small stipend for incidentals. Any money I made from my work-study went directly into my pocket to spend as I wanted. As a result, I created a bad habit of buying nice dresses and cute shoes whenever I went to the mall. By the time I moved out to DC and started working as a young adult, I kept that same terrible habit.

   To make matters worse, I had no idea how much money I was spending. Sometimes I would go grocery shopping, spend $100 for a weeks worth of food, then still end up eating out at restaurants twice a week when I “wanted something different.” Occasionally, I’d travel out of town, go visit friends in other cities, or simply go back to Florida for a holiday. Again, I did all of this with no budget and ended each month wondering where all of my money had gone. If I could do it again I’d definitely create a spending plan and try to stick to a monthly budget.

4. Check your monthly account statement. Once I started med school, my spending habits changed. Not because I magically started creating a budget, but because I realized I needed to stop relying on credit cards and actually start paying off the balance quicker. I set up automatic monthly withdrawals to cover my credit card payment and tried my best to avoid buying unnecessary clothes at the mall. Although these were good changes, I had neglected to take a vital step….check the monthly credit card balance. This might not seem like such a big deal, but mistakes happen more frequently than we may realize.

   Whether it’s a charge that showed up twice or a monthly payment you never authorized, it is imperative to check your accounts frequently. Even though I occasionally looked at my debit card balance, I never checked my credit card account history. When I finally did, I was mortified! I was paying nearly $70 a month for some added credit card protection I didn’t need and never remembered authorizing! Although I was able to call the bank and stop paying for that service, I was angry that I had such a high charge each month for something I never even wanted! As a struggling medical student, I could think of several other things I could spend that $70 on, none of which included handing it out for free to a bank. Ladies and gents, check your statements.

This is just part 1 of the financial mistakes I made in grad school. Stay tuned for part 2 of disastrous things I did with money before I got responsible and started paying back my bills. Tell me, what money mistakes did you make after college? If you could do things different what would you change?