Top Tips to Better Your Finances

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Your personal finances play a huge role in life. At some point, you will probably need a car loan or a mortgage. Having strong personal finances will help you in this process. Also, having strong personal finance habits and managing finances is an act of self care. Many people face anxiety and stress from their finances. You don’t have to be one of them. Follow these top tips to better your finances.

We have broken these top tips into three different sections. These different categories focus on three main things: managing your debt, boosting your income, and looking at your current expenses.

Manage Your Debt

It is safe to say that everyone has some sort of debt. Whether it is a car loan, student loans, a mortgage, or even credit card debt, everyone has it. However, people manage their debt differently. If you debt levels are causing you stress, we can help.

If you are looking for the best way to pay off your debt, you may want to use a debt snowball spreadsheet. A debt snowball spreadsheet is a way to break down your debts into a simple payment plan. This is an easy process. All you have to do is figure out how much money you can dedicate to setting your current debts. The next thing is to just list all of your debts out, and determine how long it will take you to make all the payments and become debt free.

If you don’t have high levels of debt, then great! Keep it this way. Ways to avoid debt is to live within your means. You may want the newest iPhone or laptop, or splurge on a new luxury car, but at the end of the day do you really need any of that? Another way to manage your debt is to make sure you pay off your credit card bills on time or even early. Not only will this help you manage your debt, but it can improve your credit score.

Boost Your Income

Another way to better your finances is to boost your income. This may seem obvious, but not many people know how they can do this. There are several ways that you can boost your income. The first method is by working more or harder at your current job.

Many employers offer overtime which will make you more money. Talk to your boss to see if there is any additional work you can do for overtime. Possibly see if your boss has any side projects they can give you. You can also look into going back to school to learn a new skill that can help you in your current job. You don’t have to go back full time to pursue an expensive degree. Instead, you can sign up for induvial classes or even look at online certifications. There are many free certifications that you can get that will show your boss or employer that you are ready to take one additional responsibilities. You may even get a promotion that comes with a raise!

If you can’t get overtime at your current job, or are looking for other ways to boost your income, then you may want to get a second job. You can do something on the weekends like be a waiter or waitress, or a bartender. If you want a second job, but want something flexible, look into getting a side gig or starting a side hustle. Side gig ideas include driving for Uber or Lyft, walking dogs, doing errands for people, or more. You can have a ton of flexibly doing this. You can also try to find something you love doing and make it fun.

Make a Budget

The last thing you can do to better your finances is by creating a budget. First, take some time to track all of your expenses. Use a spreadsheet tool like excel. List out all of your recurringly monthly expenses, and then deduct this from your monthly income. These expenses should be things like rent or your mortgage, utilities, phone bill, gas, car, etc. Be sure to deduct the amount you want to save monthly as well. Always pay yourself first.

Once you do this, then factor in other things like groceries. After this, you should be left with your monthly discretionary income. Here you can decide how much you will budget for activities. Here you can include items like going out to eat with friends, going to the movies, or going to sporting events or concerts.

Keeping to your budget is important. If you see that you are spending too much money with your credit card, then stop using it. Instead, each month take out cash and only use this. Of course you can use your credit card for a back up. Having to spend physical cash could make you second guess some purchases and save you money in the end.

Tips to Better Your Finances – Summary

There are many ways that you can better your finances. We hope that the tips we listed will be helpful. There are three main areas where you can better your finances. These categories include managing you debt, boosting your income, and creating a budget.

You will find that once your finances are in order, you will be less stressed out and be able to live a happier life.