After Christmas times are tough for many of us and this is when money management is so important. So here are some simple tips to manage your money better on a daily basis.
Here are some simple money management tips from Clay Advisors.
Make A Budget
Work out your incomings and outgoings. You can either do with lined paper and a pen or on a simple spreadsheet. Add your incomings up and deduct your outgoings. Then you can see what money you have left at the end of the month. If you are spending more than you are earning then you need to have a long hard look at your budget. If you want to find out more about making a budget check out this Money Saving Expert post.
Analyse Your Figures
Now analyse the figures. Are there ways in which you can reduce your outgoings? Are there ways in which you can increase your incomings? Do you have any goals such as a savings pot, a holiday or saving for education? Look at ways in which you can achieve your goals.
Ways To Reduce Outgoings
We all have outgoings and some cannot be avoided, such as the mortgage, food bills, transport costs, utility bills and so on. However, there are ways in which you can reduce these.
Mortgage
If you have a mortgage, you could look at remortgaging to reduce payments, you don’t have to move to do this and some remortgages don’t incur fees.
Utilities
You can shop around for utilities such as electricity, gas and water bills. Check out the many comparison sites out there. If you have come to the end of your mobile contract, ring up your mobile supplier and see if you can reduce your payments. A SIM-only deal is often the cheapest, so if you don’t need to change your phone you could also consider this.
Food
There are many ways to save money on food. Meal planning for the week will ensure you only buy what you need and often you can make food go further like this. For example, a whole chicken can be used for a roast dinner, a curry, soup and meat for sandwiches. Another way to save money is to look out for coupons online and in magazines. You can save a fortune like this. If you normally buy branded food, consider buying supermarket own-brand items instead.
Cancel Subscriptions
If you really want to save money check if you have any subscriptions that can be cancelled. If you have a gym membership, magazine or software subscription that you pay for every month, consider cancelling them to save money.
Ways To Increase Incomings
If you need to increase incomings there are a number of ways in which you can do this.
Take On Extra Work
Consider taking on extra work. Maybe you can do more hours or overtime at work or you could possibly take on casual hours somewhere else. There are a number of sites for freelancing such as Upwork or People Per Hour where you can sell your skills.
Sell Items Not Needed
Sell any items not needed. You can do this online via sites such as Facebook Marketplace, eBay, or Gumtree or via local newspapers and magazines. I recently sold an unwanted TV in a matter of days through Facebook and it was an easy and fuss-free transaction.
Rent Out A Room Or A Car Parking Space
If you have a room to rent out or even a car parking space consider renting these out. In the UK you can save money by not paying tax on some of the income from renting a room, so be sure to check this out.
Enter Competitions
You can make some money from entering competitions and selling the winnings. There are people that make a decent living from this. Just be aware of the tax implications in your country.
As you can see there are ways in which you can get on top of your money management. Do you have any tips yourself?
*Collaborative Post
