5 money mistakes to avoid this year

1. Stop saving your leftovers

Saving shouldn’t be an afterthought. Instead, adopt a “pay yourself first” model, which is a battle tested way to increase your savings

2. Stop using painless payments

Every day retailers and payment systems are streamlining processes so you can pay faster and easier.

But the farther away you get from the act of paying (which is painful) the more money you’re likely to spend, says Dan Ariely, a behavioral economist and co-author of “Dollars and Sense.”

3. Stop being silent about money

Research shows that not only are we bad at dealing with money, we’re also bad at talking about money.

4. Stop your wholesale club shopping

Wholesale club shopping makes you spend and eat more, according to a recent study.

5. Stop allowing your credit to be available to anyone

The news about the Equifax data breach — in which the personal information of 145 million people’s personal and financial data were accessed — has moved off your news feed, but your risk of identity theft remains.