Spend less than you earnis the golden rule of personal finance.

It’s incredibly simple, but it’s not easy.

Here’s how your brain sabotages your finances, and how you could overcome those tendencies.

Keep Yourself Motivated, Whatever the Cost

Motivation is a tricky thing.

For example, when it comes to debt, the Stack Method makes the most sense on paper.

You pay debts with the highest interest rate first.

But in practice, the Debt Snowballactually works better for people.

You slash your smaller balances first, and this gives you a sense of accomplishment and control.

Yeah, you end up paying more in interest.

Having that control doesn’t mean you’re going to suddenly get out of debt and start making millions.

you could work with this tendency beyond debt, too.

When you budget or create financial goals, focus on that control.

Devise a plan that makes you feel like you’re calling the shots with your money.

Feeding your need for control will make you feel motivated.

And that’ll go a long way toward the wholespend less than you earnthing.

We crunch the numbers, they add up, and that’s that.

But impulsive, emotional behavior gets in the way of the math.

We know a new phone isn’t in our budget, but we buy it anyway.

That silly price tag doesn’t stop us.

This can also happen if your budget is toostrict.

For example, I wanted to pay off my debt as quickly as possible.

So I drafted a tight budget that left no room for spendingonly necessities.

Every penny went toward my debt.

On paper, the math worked.

In reality, Ibusted my budget and overdrew my account.

To work with this, create a realisticbudget that helps curb your impulse.

Put less pressure onyour limited willpowerby giving yourself a little breathing room for spending.

Obviously, it also helps to control your impulses as much as possible.

When I feel like shopping, I take a look at that list.

Getting rid of junk I already havewhen I feel the desire to spend.

Staying away from the stores that tempt me most.

Not storing my credit card information with the sites that tempt me most.

Again,spend less than you earnis easy to budget on paper.

Just save all of the money you earn, right?

But in reality, you work hard, and you want something to show for it.

It’s only natural.

There’s nothing wrong with rewarding yourself.

There are easy ways to feed this need and still keep your finances in order.

Spend money on the things that will bring you the most joy.

Celebrate your money milestones: Don’t reward yourself for earning moneyreward yourself for saving it.

Find non-costly ways to reward yourself: There are plenty of luxuries that don’t cost much at all.

A relaxing bath, for example.

It might seem counterintuitive to consider your impulsive habits and your need for reward when you budget.

But again, much of personal finance is about learning to work with and manage your behavior.

The problem is, that personis like a stranger to most of us.

It’s easy to calculatehow much you need for retirementandhow much you should start saving.

The math is the easy part.

Actuallycaringabout it now is another story.

The key is to link your future with the present.

They saved more when they focused on theprocessof saving for that goal.

It’s the same reasoning behind the wholesystems vs. goals thing.

Yes, you need a goal to have a system in place.

That’s what you’re working toward, after all.

But focusing on the system helps link your present to your future achievement of that goal.

you’re free to focus on the process by settingsmaller milestones.

It also helps to pay yourself first andautomate your savings.

You want to know what your retirement goals are.

But in practice, focusing on the process might help you get there better.

Math is obviously a big part of money.

But for most of us, it’s more about habit and behavior.

Images by Tina Mailhot-Roberge,Steven Depolo,Ludovic Bertron,Sarah HorriganandTim Ellis.