Managing your money

Simple ways to manage your money better...

ᴿᴹ Pay your bills

Pay your bills as soon as you receive them. Not only will you not incur a late fine, you also get to be stress free and not have something looming over you. If you can, automise your bills. And if you can't, set yourself a reminder so you can pay your bills as soon as possible.

ᴿᴹ Clear your debts Debts will always weigh you down in so many ways; it gives you a poor credit rating, making it harder to get onto the property ladder or start your own business, which you may be interested in for the future. Debts are also very stressful and can often lead to arguments and break down of relationships. It is important to clear your debts as soon as you can to avoid paying high interest fees or become bankrupt, which is of course a pretty bad case scenario. When tackling your debts, make sure you pay off those with high interest fees first. ᴿᴹ Open a savings account This is the best piece of money advice I was ever given. A lady I used to work for told me about having a savings account. She spoke of it as if it was the done thing; it was a completely new concept for me. Every time you get paid, put some money aside for your savings. Speak to your bank and get their advice on the different types of savings accounts they have. There are some accounts which have a fixed bond, meaning you are restricted from accessing your money for a certain amount of time. Usually fixed bond savings account have higher interest rates so definitely one to check out.

ᴿᴹ Choose investment over impulsive buys Think each item through before you spend your money. When you go to the shops and are surrounded by beautifully dressed mannequins and fresh new clothes, you may be tempted to get something new for your wardrobe. Before you splurge, make sure what you are getting is really an investment piece. This is not just for the smaller day-to-day items such as clothes and jewellery but also the larger items, such as a house and car. Make your money work for you. ᴿᴹ Learn to budget Sit down with your finances and create a budget plan. Allocate money for food, rent, commute, bills and any other unavoidable expenses you have. Be realistic with how much you have to spend for each category. Then put some money aside for going out; after all, you still have got to enjoy your life. The rest of the money you have goes into your savings account. Try to put something into savings account each month even if it is as little as £5. Eventually, the money in your savings account will build up and you will have a nice financial nest for yourself.

ᴿᴹ Use vouchers and loyalty cards Your local supermarkets provide some sort of loyalty scheme where you can earn points for your shopping. Eventually these points can be used as cash and you can actually buy your groceries with these. The stores will often send you additional vouchers where you can boost your points further or you can get buy-one-get-one-free on things you often use. Take advantage of this. Just make sure that the things you buy with your loyal cards and vouchers are things you actually need and want. It is so easy to get sucked up into the whole game of consumerism. ᴿᴹ Use cash and not card Withdraw a set amount for yourself and only spend that amount. This way you are forcing a budget on yourself. When you have a card, you tend to forget about the amounts you are spending. Also, with a card your spending limit is far higher than if you were spending cash. This could mean with the card, you could end up spending far more than you had intended to. ᴿᴹ Make your credit card work for you Credit cards are not as bad as you think. In fact, they can actually help boost your credit rating. When it comes to buying bigger items (such as a car or a house), the banks will want to see how reliable you are as a borrower. If you never borrow money then you will have nothing to pay back and the bank will never know that you are reliable (although not borrowing in the first place seems pretty reliable to me!) Get a credit card and use it. Don’t get too spend-happy and make sure you pay it off in full when you do use it. ᴿᴹ Pension fund It is never too early to think about your pension fund. The earlier you prepare yourself, the better off you will be in the long run. When you work, a small portion of your pay-check goes into your pension fund. You can benefit from this after you retire. There are some companies that do not offer a good pension. Find out what you are entitled to from your workplace. You can boost your pension independently by creating a NEST account and paying into it as and when you can. The great thing about having a pension is that you don’t feel it when you’re building it up but you can reap all the benefits of your years of hard work in your retirement years. Another great reason to be working. ᴿᴹ Make strategic career moves As you build up your experience, make sure you keep moving up the career ladder. Keep your eyes open for better and bigger opportunities. Although I don’t think you should let money dictate your life, it should be seen as a sweet nectar to your increased qualifications and experiences. Don’t be afraid of moving on; be afraid of getting stuck. Make clever strategic career moves and boost your income in the process. ᴿᴹ Think long term when making purchases Life would be so boring if we stopped buying pretty things altogether. Try to buy less in quantity and more in quality. When I was younger, I was obsessed with handbags and I would change my handbag almost every day. I began to collect tons of cheap handbags from Primark and thought of myself as somewhat of a fashionista. Fast-forward to now, and I will say I was just being spend-happy. There were some bags that I never used, some t-shirts and shoes I never wore, dresses that never left the house and unfortunately, all that is money I will never get back. Instead, be sensible and splurge on one or two items and make sure those items last a good few years. Less is more, quality over quantity always.