Sitting down and assessing your finances does take time and while it’s not compulsory, it can help to improve your feeling of financial stability and indeed save you money.
There are a number of reasons someone may choose not to budget, some struggle to find the time; others don’t see it as important and some simply can’t face their finances in these tough economic times!
A Monthly Budget
An effective monthly budget is the cornerstone of all stable financial lives. It not only provides you with a framework for your monthly spend, but it also highlights any areas that you may be spending too much and can consequently cut back.
If you haven’t created a budget, then now is definitely a good time to do so. One of the quickest and easiest ways of doing so is to use an online budget planner. Having created an implemented and effective monthly budget, you’ve got the foundations, now you simply have to build around them.
Assessing your outgoings
In the expenses section of your budget, you’ll have listed all monthly and yearly credit commitments and subscriptions. Now it’s time to assess these commitments, and identify whether you’re able to save money on any of them.
Naturally, you’ll be unable to affect your rent, mortgage or council tax payments. However, here are a few of the areas you should be able to save on:
Utilities
Many swerve switching broadband provider as they see the switchover process as a hassle. Due to the introduction of the internet and indeed price comparison services, finding a cheaper deal and switching providers is now extremely easy as the majority of the work is done for you!
Broadband
If you haven’t switched broadband providers for a number of years, the chances are you’re paying over the odds for a service that is essentially out of date. This is because in the past few years, the quality of service available has improved and the price has decreased. Simply use one of the large price comparison sites to see how much you could be saving.
Credit Card Payments
You may not think it, but you can drastically reduce the amount you are paying each month on your credit and store cards. By transferring the debt over to a 0% balance transfer card, you will avoid all interest charges that you’ll currently be paying. This means you’ll be debt free quicker than you ever thought you would be!
These are just a few of the things that you could save money on, the more time you spend assessing your outgoings, the more savings you’ll unearth.
Conclusion
By implementing an effective budget and making relevant cutbacks you’ll find that you’ll have a clearer understanding of your finances and as a result you’re finance related stress will be eased.
It is your job to ensure that you regularly revisit your budget in order to keep it fresh in your mind. At first I’d recommend refreshing it every month and/or when anything changes with regards to your finances (e.g. your council tax increases or you pay off a loan), before you know it, it’ll be second nature.