The small habits making you poor and how to fix them
· The South African
It’s easy to blame petrol prices, electricity tariffs or rising food prices when your money never seems to go far enough. But for many, the real damage happens quietly, in habits that feel harmless, rational or even necessary.
These habits that are making you poor are not reckless splurges. They are small behavioural patterns, often reinforced by convenience, stress or digital design. Left unchecked, they slowly eat into your bank balance. The good news is that once you see the problems, they are easy to fix.
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Habits That Are Secretly Making You Poor
1. Treating convenience as a necessity
Food delivery, ride-hailing, same-day shipping and “buy now, pay later” options save time, but they also normalise premium pricing. These shortcuts quietly replace habits you once managed for free. You pay to avoid mild discomfort, but it adds fees on top of the initial cost, plus admin fees and even additional tips.
The cost: Higher daily spending without increasing your quality of life definitely makes you poor.
2. Subscribing and mentally writing it off
Subscriptions are designed to disappear into the background. R79 here, R129 there feels insignificant until you total them, then it is suddenly a habit making you poor. Many households carry overlapping streaming services, unused gym memberships or app fees they no longer remember signing up for. This is just another habit making you poor.
Digital media trends from 2025 show that many people could underestimate how much they spend on these services.
The cost: Money leaving your account with zero decision-making involved.
3. Outsourcing awareness of your own money secretly makes you poor
Not checking bank statements, mobile contracts, or insurance schedules creates a blind spot where errors, duplicate charges and outdated plans thrive. Financial institutions rely on inattention. A lack of oversight is expensive, so make sure you check where your money goes.
The cost: Paying for services you do not use, need or benefit from.
4. Small impulse spending used as emotional relief
That quick coffee, snack or online purchase is rarely about the item itself. It is often a reward, a stress release or a moment of control. When spending becomes emotional regulation, it stops being occasional and starts becoming routine. Online shopping makes it easy to click ‘buy’ without thinking.
The cost: Repeated “small” purchases that quietly replace savings.
5. Habits making you poor: Carrying debt because it feels manageable
Minimum payments create the illusion of control while interest compounds aggressively in the background. Credit cards and store accounts are structured to feel harmless until they are not. Many people underestimate how much future income is already spoken for.Rather save up and pay cash where possible.
The cost: Paying far more for the same lifestyle over time.
6. Buying ownership instead of access
something to use once secretly makes you poorFrom tools to appliances, books to event gear, ownership is often the default choice. Yet many items are used once or twice a year. Borrowing, swapping or renting remains underused, even when it makes financial sense.
The cost: Money tied up in things that sit idle.
7. Avoiding money conversations is a habit that makes you poor
Not talking about money, whether with partners, family or even yourself, allows bad habits to persist unchallenged. Silence creates friction-free spending and delayed consequences, just one of the habits secretly making you poor.
The cost: Problems that grow large before they become visible.
How to Stop These Habits making you poor Without Feeling Deprived
The solution is not extreme budgeting or cutting joy from your life. You can save R500 monthly by making small changes.
Track spending for a month. Replace convenience with intentional convenience. Automate savings before spending. Schedule a monthly financial check-in. Add friction to impulse purchases and remove friction from good financial behaviour.
The habits secretly making you poor are subtle, habitual and emotionally comfortable. Once you identify them, you can redirect the same routines toward stability and growth without feeling restricted.