# This inadvertent bad habit will only lead you to get poorer and poorer

By [好样的](https://paragraph.com/@0x49301a4fbce4e2a9c75d446664fcb0e811b89223) · 2022-05-21

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01 A few years ago, I met a sister at a friend's birthday party. I especially envy her happy life. At an age when I feel extremely petty when I have an occasional cup of Starbucks, she has bought an expensive imported coffee machine and gracefully lived the day of drinking freshly ground coffee every day. When I took advantage of the discount to buy myself a pair of Nike sneakers, she did not hesitate to carry Jimmy Choo's high heels home one by one. This inadvertent bad habit will only lead you to get poorer and poorer When I bought a cheap Spring Airlines ticket and a home stay for six people on the way, she had customized a 9-day high-end in-depth European tour for herself. I envy her that she can do what she wants to do freely, buy what she likes without hesitation, and don't be contaminated with the fireworks of life. It was not until recently that I learned by chance from my good friend that my sister is now in a mess: the original stable work unit has begun to transform and lay off, and she is one of the dismissed employees. She was laid off at a very embarrassing age. She had no savings and no lover. She had to look for a job and rely on her parents for help. At the beginning, I was very envious, but now I can only regret for her: if I didn't spend so much money without scruples, I can at least have my own deposit now, and I won't be reduced to this. Lars said, "if you are really rich, it's OK to spend a little on high-end goods. But if you're just an ordinary person who wants to get rich, such consumption can't make you rich and will never." I think so. 02 In this era, countless official account tell you that people who only know how to save money have no future; Those who can spend money will not have bad luck. However, do you know that the money you inadvertently spend on weekdays is enough to open the gap with others? There is a story: A couple used to buy a latte when they went out every day. They thought it was a very pleasant thing and never felt anything wrong. Until later, a financial analyst calculated an account for the couple: The cost of two lattes a day is 70 yuan, 25550 yuan a year and 766500 yuan in 30 years With the compound interest of time, the latte money saved every day is enough for them to buy a good car. This is the so-called "latte factor" effect. This term was first put forward by financial consultant David Bach. It refers to the daily scattered expenses such as buying candy, bottled water, magazines, newspapers and lattes, which are not very attractive. It has the effect of adding up a little and making a pile. Just like me, when I just graduated, I felt that I had entered the workplace and couldn't be too shabby. I learned from others, drank a cup of American coffee every day, invited others to dinner in a petty bourgeois restaurant every week, and swiped my card in the mall to buy a set of cosmetics or a bag every month. At that time, I didn't have a high salary and high morale. I didn't want to lag behind others in consumption, but I forgot that as an ordinary person, I didn't have the capital to consume in advance. It was not until half a year later that I suddenly woke up: after working for so long, I didn't save a penny, but my credit card was overdrawn frequently, which was even poorer than that during college. It turned out that the "latte factors" in my life that I didn't notice had unknowingly consumed my savings. I finally realized that I could no longer let myself spend money freely. Anyone who is responsible for himself should have a plan for the future and know how to manage money. 03 Avoid letting the "latte factor" cause you to get poorer. The first step is to start with bookkeeping. My friend L has been working for two or three years, and his monthly salary is more than 8000. Because the unit is next to her parents' house, she doesn't need to rent a house, pay off her mortgage and car loan, and there is no big expense at ordinary times, so I can't understand why she is the same moonlight family as me. She obviously doesn't know where she spends her money every month. There are still traces of large expenses. It's really impossible to remember every small expense. I told her to try to keep an account and record every money spent so that all expenses can be seen at a glance. A month later, she shared her bookkeeping experience with me: it turned out that so much money was spent on small things! Take advantage of the daily necessities hoarded at a discount in the supermarket, trinkets bought casually by passing boutiques, animation handmade online shopping, snacks bought in the online red shop That's how the seemingly insignificant expenses add up to a lot, which is enough to make people smack. Adhering to bookkeeping can allow you to summarize the rules from your daily expenses and avoid inadvertently increasing unnecessary expenses. More importantly, you can cultivate your patience and plan your life regularly through bookkeeping. Only by forcing yourself to see the bad habits in consumption can you really grow. 04 The second step to avoid letting the "latte factor" cause you to get poorer is compulsory savings. There is a story: Once upon a time, a couple had a quarrel because they had no money for new year goods. The wife blamed her husband for spending too much money on smoking. If they didn't smoke, they could save money for the new year. To prove this, the wife prepared a piggy bank. Every time the husband buys a pack of cigarettes, the wife puts the money for a pack of cigarettes into the piggy bank. When waiting for the new year, the wife poured out the money in the piggy bank. Unexpectedly, it was a large amount. The family spent a good year with the money. Since then, the husband has no money to save, and he has never made up his mind to quit smoking. However, by the end of the year, they found that there was no money for new year goods. The couple looked at each other: "it seems that they haven't spent money recklessly. Why don't they have money for the new year?" The reason why the couple didn't have money for new year's goods is that they didn't have to save any more. Many people's saving habits are: income expenditure = saving. However, due to various invisible "latte factors", savings results often run counter to expectations. Therefore, compulsory saving is to change the formula into: expenditure = income - saving. For example, the monthly salary is 3000 yuan. On the day of salary, 500 yuan in the salary is forced to be saved on another card as if you have not taken the 500 yuan. Our quality of life will not change because of the loss of 500 yuan, because people's adaptation level and consumption habits will slowly adjust. Moreover, 500 or 1000 yuan is really gone without spending, a few meals or a few small things. But as long as we persist in saving, it will be a large amount in a few years. Compulsory savings may be the best way for the moonlight family to change themselves. Some people say that all wealth is not for nothing, and everyone's poverty has a trace to follow. We live in an era when our consumption desire can be satisfied at any time. Reasonable consumption can reduce the pressure on our life and work. However, unreasonable consumption habits will only make you lose yourself in materials and can't control your life.

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*Originally published on [好样的](https://paragraph.com/@0x49301a4fbce4e2a9c75d446664fcb0e811b89223/this-inadvertent-bad-habit-will-only-lead-you-to-get-poorer-and-poorer)*
