Socializing with friends is a good thing but your close friends might just be the ones always leaving you broke.
You should never let your friends money and spending habits affect your own money habits. Be determined to stick to your own financial plan
Here are ways your friends are ruining your finances.
1. If they always want to hang out all the time
It is not a bad to hang out with your friends every now and then but if you have friends that always want to hang out all the time and hanging out means food, drinks, clubbing, going to the movies and other different ways of hanging out which would definitely affect your finance negatively.
If you have such friends then it might just be the reason you are always broke and never follow through with your budget.
2. If they give expensive gifts
If you have friends who give expensive gifts during celebrations like birthday celebrations or any festive celebration then you have an obligation to do the same for such friends when they are also celebrating.
Which means you would spend so much getting such expensive gifts and might take a toll on your finance.
Let them know you have a budget you follow every month and you can't afford to be exchanging such expensive gifts. Be totally honest about it.
3. Friends who want you to always go shopping
Planning on going shopping with friends isn't a bad idea as long as you guys have planned it all out before setting out to shop, but if you have the type of friends who you go out to see and just says you should go out shopping, then it can be quite dangerous financially.
It could be tempting shopping with someone who shops for fun and on impulse. You can tag along but determine not to spend when you didn't budget for such.
4. Rich kids
You know how hard you have to work to make every dime, which means you have to be prudent with your spending but you have some rich kids who have a lot of money at their disposal as friends, who want to keep up with their money lifestyle.
It would surely affect your finance if you try to keep up.
It is not bad to have rich friends but let them know you can't keep up with such money lifestyle because it would ruin your budget and finance and if they are truly your friends they would understand.
5. If they never pay when you go out
Do you ever go out with a friend or friends and they never pay, leaving you to foot the bills?
These friends always come up with different kinds of excuse. How they are short of cash or the automated teller machine is not dispensing cash and promising to foot the bills the next time.
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This would definitely affect your finance if you keep footing the bills.
If you have such friends, you won't want to hurt their feelings, so just tell them it would be better to hang out at their place or your place.