You hear a lot about spouses lying to each other about money, but sometimes we are not even honest with ourselves about it. In fact, many of us tell ourselves the same few financial lies on a regular basis.

When we experience financial troubles, we may eventually realize that the problem in not necessarily with our income level, but rather that we have been fooling ourselves into believing these same falsehoods over and over again.

Let’s uncover some of these money lies:

1)      “It’s just a couple of dollars…”—A couple of dollars may seem minor—that is, until a couple of dollars is the difference between paying your bills or not, or buying the groceries you need, or going negative in your bank account and incurring costly overdraft fees. If you saved just $2 per week over the course of 10 years, it would be over $1,000 saved—small amounts do add up.

2)      “I just got paid…”—I love Fridays around where I live because everybody is out and about feeling flush with money. My frugal dad used to laugh at those that would head out on Friday nights to spend all of the money that they just got paid. When you get paid, it is so easy to feel like you are wealthier than you are.  But it is good to remember that the money has to last until your next paycheck. I often get around this temptation by immediately paying all bills as soon as a paycheck comes in (even if they are not due for a week or two). The reduced remaining balance that follows is a good enough reminder in and of itself.

To be continued in tomorrow’s post, so be there….