Have you ever felt that money is not enough for you? Don’t you know where you lose so much money every month? Probably if you have had this feeling, you are being a victim of ant expenses. Ant expenses, just like when we see an ant with respect to an anthill, are small when they look alone, but when they put all the anthill together, we can panic.
Thus, ant expenses alone seem harmless. But when you add up all those small expenses that we make we realize that they are much more than we expect. In addition, these expenses greatly affect our budget and can sabotage our personal and financial goals.
Good personal finances start with a good knowledge and control of our personal expenses. Raising awareness that there are no minor expenses, and less if they are done regularly, will help us improve our finances. That is why Gustavo Mirabal Castro wants us to know everything necessary to manage ant expenses as experts.
Therefore, today we will talk about ant expenses, what they are and how to eliminate them, or failing that, how to reduce them. Without further ado, let’s get started.
Table of Contents.
By definition, ant expenses are small expenses, unrepresentative and that do not attract attention, but that are very frequent. Ant expenses are present in our day to day, but because they are so small, or so routine, we do not pay attention to them.
Ant expenses could become “invisible” to our attempts to control our budget. Only if we begin to pay attention to our recurring habits and begin to record even our small expenses, we can realize their impact.
That is why we need a strategy to be able to identify them and achieve a full financial awareness. Next, we will look at some of the characteristics of ant expenses.
Ant expenses are very small, but they are made every day or very often. This causes them to accumulate without hardly perceiving them. An example of this is the cost of a coffee in our lives, a coffee on arrival and a coffee after lunch in the office.
In Mexico a coffee costs approximately $ 0.75 and in Chile $ 1 approximately. Making a conservative estimate and assuming the price of $ 0.75 per cup of coffee. This price is more or less similar in all Latin American countries (Colombia, Venezuela, etc.).
Considering this scenario, only on cups of coffee and considering only 2 cups of coffee we would spend $30 on coffee alone. This results in 12.5% of the minimum wage in Colombia and 11.6% of the minimum wage in Mexico in 2022.
As we can see, ant expenses can be very representative, especially for those who earn the least.
In addition, a person may have various concepts of ant expenses. Among these concepts we can find alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, sweets, among others.
Ant expenses have a very definite pattern in our lives. Some characteristics that can help us recognize them are:
Some of these expenses can be:
We don’t realize it, but it’s a pretty big expense at the end of the month.
The first thing we must learn to attack ant expenses is to buy in a planned way. When we plan our purchases, we will prioritize our needs over our impulses.
We can evaluate which are our priority expenses, compared to those that are not. In addition, we can deal with expenses with a cool head and replace some purchase options with cheaper options.
In this way we can choose how we want to manage our finances. These are the basic actions we recommend avoiding ant expenses.
Keep an app or notebook that allows you to take note of any minor expenses. It doesn’t matter if it’s a coffee or a knick-knack, it’s important to write them down. By writing them down you will keep aware of all the times you make impulsive expenses and that will make you rethink them. In this way you will begin to become aware and notice of all those expenses that you make and do not perceive.
Evaluate which of these expenses begin to weigh on your budget and that you can eliminate. Contrast this with your financial and personal goals. Is street coffee every day compatible with your savings purposes? How much can I save if instead of having coffee on the street I drink it at home before leaving?
In this way we will be more aware. We can begin to evaluate what we want to do with our money.
Repeated actions lead to habits. In the same way that you got used to buying cigarettes or a coffee on the street every day you can create new, healthier habits for your body and your pocket.
Find a way to drink coffee at home and reduce the coffee you consume. The less coffee you consume overall, the less need you will feel to drink coffee. In addition, you will reduce the excitability produced by coffee intake frequently, which will reduce your stress and free radicals, improving your health.
When you go to make household purchases, keep a shopping list, and stick to what is written down. In this way you will be obliged to budget all the expenses you have.
If your plan includes your health, then try to include only healthy things on the shopping list or failing that minimize processed foods and knickknacks.
You resisted the imposition of buying things that are not planned. If you really need something, write it down and when you are at home meditate if you should really include it in the next shopping list.
Avoid eating out. If you can, prepare food at home. Street food is less healthy and will also increase your expenses. Also, if you are going out to do errands, eat well before leaving so you do not have to spend on food on the street.
An important step after taking an expense inventory is to do the following:
After consolidating these changes, set rewards for yourself. For example, if you take food from home every day, you can define one day a month to eat out if you reach your goal. Turning your ant spending into a conscious reward can make you happier, healthier, and financially independent.
Do you feel that by eliminating ant expenses you eliminate part of your happiness? If you’ve become addicted to certain “habits” you may want to consider that level of attachment. Attachment to things that hurt us and that are an obstacle to achieving what we truly desire. That’s the difference between seeking short-term desire satisfaction or long-term desire fulfillment.
Some studies associate success with people who have the emotional intelligence to postpone the immediate satisfaction of their desires. In this way these people can prioritize not only the options they have immediately, but the long-term goals.
It’s like that person who buys a lot of appliances, furniture, and vehicles, but still lives rented. A person who wants to achieve success should know that saving that money can help him to achieve his own home that will then help him make large savings in terms of rent.
This is how a person with great emotional intelligence has a greater chance of success. So, managing your ant expenses can be a way to raise your emotional intelligence and with it your chances of success in life.
Eliminating ant expenses is a challenge. Sometimes we will have to give up things we took for granted like a coffee after lunch. We can also choose to reduce some ant expenses and leave others. The important thing is that each decision is conscious and allows us to create new habits.
The new habits we create should help us achieve our personal and financial goals. In addition, they will have the positive effect of influencing our health if we improve our eating habits and leave some vices.
Eliminating these vices will also help us to have better health and will affect the reduction of medical expenses and medicines. In addition, we will be able to better link with our environment and with ourselves.
Gustavo Mirabal Castro encourages us to take the path of financial self-knowledge to help us achieve our dreams.
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