Post Menu and Details.
- 4 Easy-to-Follow Financial Tips
- Create a budget
- Track your spending
- Eliminate unnecessary bills
- Meal prep
- Small Changes Yield Big Results
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It may surprise you to learn how many Americans are deeply in debt. Debt from auto loans, credit cards, and other unsecured debts is making it harder for debtors to repay and add up to billions of dollars. If you’re in debt and looking for a way to lower it, consider these tips for financial success.
4 Easy-to-Follow Financial Tips
Do you want to lower your credit card debt, pay off loans, or pay off your car? The best way to achieve your goals is to understand your budget and spending habits. Getting on track to improving your finances doesn’t have to be as complicated as it sounds.
Start by making slight changes in your spending habits that can add up to bigger results at the end of the year. Following are four examples of easy-to-follow financial tips that can help you improve your finances and achieve your financial goals for this year.
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Create a budget
Many of us are used to spending without keeping track of what we’re spending. Creating a household budget is the first step to wrangling your family finances. Budgeting is as easy as adding up the costs of every single bill you pay each month. Compare that to the amount of income coming into your household.
The difference between the two is how much you can afford to spend each month without going over your budget. While this may sound complicated at first, there are many receipt scanning and budgeting apps available that make this process a breeze.
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Track your spending
Now that you’ve created a budget that tells you how much it costs to run your household, it’s time to move on to tracking your monthly spending. Keep track of your monthly spending by saving receipts from every purchase.
There is a wide variety of spending management apps available for Android and Apple users to download and automatically highlight their spending habits. According to the experts at Bills.com, knowing where you spend your money is just as important as knowing how much you spend.
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Eliminate unnecessary bills
After you’ve created a budget and tracked your spending, the next step to take is to cut out unnecessary bills. Apps like TrueBill help users with tracking and unsubscribing from unused or long forgotten subscriptions. Get rid of unused or unwanted subscriptions you’ve set on auto-pay to save money. It may surprise you to learn how many bills you have for services you no longer use.
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Meal prep
Eating out regularly can have adverse effects on both your health and your wallet. After budgeting and creating your spending plan, start a meal plan that includes a weekly or monthly shopping list for groceries.
Planning your meals in advance and having the ingredients on hand increases the likelihood of you following through with eating a healthy meal at home versus making a quick trip through the local drive-thru. According to Credit Donkey, Americans typically spend around $1,200 per year (per person) on fast food.
Small Changes Yield Big Results
Making these minor changes in your spending habits can result in savings and reduced debt that amounts to thousands of dollars per year. For example, cutting out even half the amount spent on fast food per year to just $600.00 puts an extra $600.00 back in your pocket.
That extra money can go towards savings, planning family vacations, or settling outstanding credit card debt. Becoming aware of your spending habits and implementing these techniques is a great way to get on the right financial track. If your finances have already gotten out of your control, you’re not alone.
Thank you for reading!