How often have you bought an outfit that you thought looked kinda snazzy in the shop, only to get home and never wear it?

Or bought a new kitchen gadget because you saw it on sale, but now it’s collecting dust in the garage?

And if there’s one way to overrun your budget, it’s by buying things you don’t actually need.

In fact, Australians spend around $13.5 billion each year on purchases they regret.

Without those regrettable purchases, imagine how much cash you’ll open up for things that actually bring you value, whether that be your long term savings goal or a weekend away with your best friends.

So here’s a simple method to help you rein back unneeded spending. 

It’s called the cost-per-use method.

All you need to do is:

1. Figure out the cost of the item you’re considering
2. Divide it by the number of uses you think you’ll get out of it.

Okay - let’s say you buy a new fit for a friend’s birthday party for $80 and wear it 11 times before you’re sick of it

That works out to a cost per use of $7.30.

Let’s say you buy a brand new pair of boots for $200. You wear them four times a week throughout winter, and you plan to use them for the next five years.

That’s 4 x 4 x 3 x 5 = 240 wears.

And works out to about $0.83 per use. That’s a way better purchase using the CPW method!

Next time you’re about to make a new purchase, think about how often you’re likely to use the item and if the cost-per-use is something you can justify.

This way you can weed out purchases that seem like a good idea in the moment, but are actually kind of a let down.

Working out cost-per-use takes under a minute to calculate and can make you hundreds of dollars better off. 

You’re welcome xoxo