Monday 23 November 2015

5 easy ways to budget your money


This time of year, as exciting as it is, comes with its own selection of anxiety inducing issues. The worst of which is money, how are we expected to stretch our normal wage over all the extra food, events and gifts!? At times it can seem impossible and can even make you start to resent a time of year you should be celebrating.

To help you get the much needed relaxation you all deserve this Christmas, I’ve come up with five simple steps that will keep you from falling into the big black pit of money despair! If you’re on a low income, on a student budget or are just looking to save a quid or two this Crimbo then these easy tips will help you get your finances on track!

Step one: Plan – Firstly you’ll a need a plan of action. The first thing I do when I see my payslip each month is sit down and write down all the things I need money for that month e.g. phone bill, travel, friends birthday. Then I order them from most important to least and work out places where I can make cut backs, such as car sharing instead of getting a train, or buying smart price goodies to lower my food budget.

By doing this you know exactly how much money you have left over to play with. After you’ve sorted out the most important parts of your list, pay for them first and then there’s a load off your mind straight away.

Step two: Paper money – What is paper money I hear you ask!? It’s those weird note things and bits of metal that no one uses anymore. Yep in this plastic card era it’s easy to forget that we have one really easy way of limiting our spending, taking out cash before we can blitz through it with our credit cards!

The first thing you should do after paying off all your bills and ensuring any direct debits are paid out of your account, is take out exactly the right amount of money you’ll need for the next month. For example: £30 for a girl’s night out, £150 for your daily commute, £20 for that friend you keep saying you’ll pay back and so on.

You can even separate each chunk of money into its own envelope and seal it so you’re not tempted to spend it before its time! Just remember to write on each envelope what the money is for, so you don’t end up spending your £150 commute money on your night out (we’ve all done it).

Step three: Bad habits – Something you need to rid yourself of if you ever want to save any money! Whether it’s smoking, drinking, junk food or Starbucks hazelnut hot chocolates (guilty) everyone has that naughty little habit that bites off a big chunk of budget each month!

Sorry to say but it’s time that you waved goodbye to bad habits! And what better time to do it than Christmas!? Get a head start on all the ‘New year, new me’ sheep and change yourself for the better starting now! Cut out those cigs, mochas and cheeky Nandos – it’s time to make a change! Cheaper replacements like a free quite smoking pack from the NHS, home made coffee in a flask and delicious packed lunches will all help save the pennies.

Step four: Recycle – this could technically be classed under bad habits as we are all guilty of refusing to wear an outfit because we were wearing it in our last tagged pictures on Facebook! It’s time to swallow that pride and start recycling your old outfits! Try adding a belt or statement necklace to an old dress to make it new again, you could even mix and match outfits with a friend if they’re on the budgeting hype!

We live in an age where thriftiness is chic so you would even have a go at making your own skirt, adding embellishments to an outdated dress or you could even give the good old charity shop a browse for a bargain – pennies saved for you and a donation to charity at the same time!

Step five: Be flexible – you could stick to every one of the steps I’ve given you and still have to fork out a tonne of money for some unexpected reason. You can’t account for everything in life: you could get a damp wall that needs fixing, or your phone could break and need repairing, or if you could get a fine for something – all of these things will take a chunk of money out of your budget that you hadn't anticipated.

But that’s okay! Try not to worry about it too much and work out a way around it, knock your £30 party budget down to ten and tell your friend you’ll give them their £20 next month. We can’t anticipate everything in life, we only do our best to deal with things when they do happen. Saving a spare £10 each month for ‘unforeseen’ circumstances could help you a lot – think of it as insurance for when something in your life goes t*ts up…..failing all this I hear the bank of mum and dad has really good interest rates.

I hope this post has helped you all a little bit and I hope that you’re all feeling a little more confident about the coming months! If you liked this post let me know in a comment below, also if you have any other budgeting tips then feel free to share them also!
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8 comments

  1. These are really great tips ♥

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  2. Great post! Love these tips!

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  3. I think the most important is too stop the bad habits
    And it will eventually make you even happier

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