Even for the most frugal, and budget-conscious, achieving a big savings goal is difficult. The routes to reaching that desirable end are filled with interferences and are challenging to grapple with, and long-term thinking can quickly be taken over by a desire for instant gratification.

Changing your routine may be in order

Consider where your money goes and come up with some new, less expensive ways to get the fixes you crave.

Notice your spending triggers

Even if you head to a big-box store armed with a list of needs, it’s easy to walk out with a dozen other purchases in your cart. You’re not necessarily off the hook if you avoid those big-box stores either: maybe you’re a little overzealous with online shopping or stocking up on food from specialty grocery stores. Or you might notice your spending trends aren’t location-based but emotion-based instead. A bad day at the office triggers a desire to go out for drinks and dinner, or loneliness makes you long for a trip to the mall.

Beware of budget hangers-on

While fixed expenses like rent and car payments probably devour a large share of your budget, flexible expenses can be a vast, sometimes unexpected drain as well. Here are some common ones to consider.

• Subscription services: From monthly cable add-ons and everything in between, it’s possible that hundreds of dollars a month disappear from your account in small, easy-to-miss increments. Find the ones you can go without, and see if things like your cable can be cut back. Once you decide exactly which services you absolutely need, comparison-shop and see if switching providers could save you money.
• Fees: If you frequent out-of-network ATMs, you could shell out more than $4 per transaction after paying the managing bank’s fees as well as your bank’s fee. Throw in things like checking and overdraft fees, and you could be throwing away more than you realize. Look carefully at where your financial accounts are sitting and find a better, low, or no-fee option.
• Energy usage seems high: Use a power strip with electronics to stop the use of phantom power when they aren’t being used, go digital with your thermostat to better control heat and air conditioning usage, and keep your water heater at 120 degrees to lessen the energy used to heat the tank.

Go digital

If saving doesn’t come naturally to you, there are plenty of apps to make the process more automatic. Pulling out your phone and checking your bank account may be the extra incentive you need to stop an impulse purchase.

By taking care of the physical and mental stumbling blocks that make you spend, you can clear your path to the experiences and lifestyle you crave.