In today’s post, I wanted to talk about something that all of us will have experienced at some point in our lives, and which some of us may be currently experiencing, and that is managing our finances and expenses. The start of a new year is such an exciting time, a time for a brand new start, for making plans and goals, however, a lot of us will start a brand new year with corners, worries, and anxiousness about how we manage our money and pay the credit card bills that start coming in from the crazy overspending for Christmas.
If every year, you vow to make positive changes to help manage your finances and expenses, here are some great tips and tricks for you to use to help you save money and improve your financial situation.
Track Your Spending
Do you even know where all your money goes? Are you one of those people who plan a quick trip to the supermarket to buy essential items and then end up buying a coat, plant, towels, and a candle because they were all on offer? Before you know it, your quick trip to the supermarket has cost you £50.00. Grab yourself a notebook, or if you prefer, create a spreadsheet on your laptop, keep all your receipts from everything you buy, and note down every purchase in your notebook or spreadsheet.
Tracking your spending gives you a much greater sense of how much you are actually spending in a month and what you are buying.
Start Budgeting
Learning to budget your finances will help you not only to pay all your monthly bills on time but will help you to set aside an amount of money each month to put into savings. At the end of each month, write down in your notebook or add to your tracking spreadsheet, all of your expected expenses for the following month – this includes everything from your utility bills, food, rent or mortgage and any additional expenses. This should give you a clear view of what you need to spend in a month, and what expenses you may have left to either spend freely or to put into savings.
If you are unsure of how to budget your finances, or are worried about seeing a way out of debt, click HERE for advice on managing and getting yourself out of debt.
Avoid Emotional Purchases
Hands up if you buy yourself random little ‘treats’ to make yourself feel better after a bad week at work or just when you are feeling a bit down? I am guilty of this as well. I often justify buying something unplanned as I deserve it for getting through a difficult week or at Christmas – a little present to myself because I am single and I don’t have a partner to buy for. And every now and again, the odd little treat purchase is ok, but not when you are emotional buying all the time. Emotional spending can be expensive – you won’t have budgeted for it and you often buy things you don’t need. This can very easily spiral and can get out-of-hand very quickly, and bgefore you know it, you are in trouble financially – debtconsolidation.com have some great resources and tools to help manage debt if this should happen.
By using these tips and tricks, you should be able to not only save more money each month, but to better understand how to manage your expenses in a much more positive way, so you have a good relationship with money and you are not left feeling worried and anxious about your financial situation.
*This is a collaborative post
