This is a collaborative post sharing some easy ways you can try to get a handle on your family finances and help you to manage your money better. Please always also consider taking qualified financial advice if you are struggling with debt or financial issues.
The vast majority of people have only a vague idea of where their money goes. This is largely because the task of managing the family’s finances seems like it is too big to handle properly. Often, it’s easier to live in denial about the state of your finances when in reality, as you will see, it need not be like that. Once you have set things up you can easily do everything you need in less than an hour a month. Keeping track regularly will help you stay on top of things and manage better.
Sort out your debt
Debt is a growing issue. If you leave things to carry on mounting up most of your spare income will be swallowed up in interest payments.
There are several ways to get on top of your debt. Insolvency practitioners like Creditfix are available to help. The approaches they suggest are well worth considering
Once you know how much you owe, you can work out a monthly repayment plan and set that money aside. It may take years, to clear your debt completely. But, it really is worth doing.
Work out your regular bills
Part of the process of tackling your debt is to work out how much it costs you to live and where your money is going. The easiest way to do this is to use an Excel worksheet template like this one. You just need to type in the amounts and press a button to see where your cash is going.
Separate accounts for bills and daily spending
Keep a seperate account for regular bills that must be paid and an account for every day spending. When pay day arrives, have the money put into the account where your rent or mortgage, utility bills and other payments are paid from then put money in to the account you use for everyday. This will help you to make sure the important stuff is paid for on time, but also you can see what you are spending daily or weekly and adjust your spending accordingly.
Start using a budgeting app
If you are not already doing so, download a Smartphone app that enables you to track your spending. Mint or Money Dashboard are two very good ones. Both of them enable you to connect your bank accounts and credit cards to the app. So, at a glance you can see what is being spent in live time.
It is also possible to set budgets for anything you like. Doing this is a really good way of keeping your spending under control. The moment you are about to spend more on clothes than your budget allows, you will be notified. You then have the choice of whether to ignore that warning or carry on spending. It is surprising how often you will pause and put that dress back and wait until next month to buy some new clothes.
Identify ways to pay less for what you need
Once you have a clear view of your family finances you can start to look at ways of getting more for your cash. Again, use your Smartphone or the web to do this. Download a couple of discount and supermarket price comparison apps and start to use them. You will soon work out which ones work best for you.
As you can see getting your family finances under control is not difficult. The tricky bit is finding the willpower to get started but once you have started and have a good plan you can stick to, getting a handle on your family finances can be managed and it will make a difference and hopefully reduce stress around financial management but also improve your outgoings and make you feel better about how you manage your money.