Seem like your income is feeling the squeeze? Working to boost income may be the ultimate answer, or you may just have to wait out the storm – but how can you make the most of every schilling while your funds remain limited?
By improving your budgeting and money management skills, using tips and tricks to help you reduce waste, and playing investing and banking smart, you can stretch your pool of pounds much farther and longer than you probably realize.
But what about debt? Two things quickly on that: avoid unnecessary debt or debt you can’t realistically repay on time and don’t be afraid to use short term cash loans to tide you over when you have a temporary shortfall. To explore options for payday and other quick cash loans from multiple lenders, go to loanpig and compare lenders and terms.
But as to managing the money you have, or as it may be the money you borrow, here are 4 key tips to keep in mind:
1. Organize Your Budget
First of all, you have to set goals so you have something to aim at. That’s what a budget is all about. Begin simply by listing and tracking all actual expenses, and then, map out all expenses individually and by categories. Set goals and work towards them, striving to make your actual budget closely match your projected one.
Also, mark all expense items as either “wants” or “needs” and drop the mere wants during the roughest times. Finally, create three separate budgets and label them A, B, & C. Budget A allows the most spending, B replaces some items with cheaper brands or alternate products and eliminates a few items, and C cuts you down to the bare minimum. Then switch between budgets A, B, and C as the situation requires.
2. Always Save Some Money
While it might not seem “intuitive,” the fact is, you should always include a savings category in your budget and treat it like it was just another expense. You can vary how much you are currently putting away based on ability, say, either 20%, 10%, or 5% or your income depending on how things are going. But always save.
There are always miscellaneous and unexpected expenses that can pop up. And you have to have an emergency fund or risk running out of cash with every financial bump in the road. It’s hard to stress too strongly that your mindset should be: save, save, save!
3. Control & Plan Spending Method
Sometimes it can make as much difference how you spend as how much. First of all, keep a specific amount of cash on hand and use that to pay for all small expenses as they come up. You will tend to be more conscious of your spending and it will be limited by the number of pounds you have on hand.
Second, plan how you will pay for each expense. Will you use a check, debit, credit card, or cash? If you go for a credit card, then be sure to pay on the card frequently (after each usage daily if necessary) so your balance won’t get out of control.
4. Get Maximum Interest & Pay Minimum Fees
Finally, there’s no good reason you can’t take advantage of interest and other perks and avoid or minimize all fees. If you are paying a fee for the privilege of using your bank account, consider switching to a competitor who offers free checking.
Try to get a credit card that has zero annual fees, or else call up to try to get the annual fee waived. And look for credit cards that give you cash back or other valuable rewards. If you can remain disciplined enough in your spending, you can run much of it through that card to get hundreds of dollars in rewards annually while paying zero interest.
Don’t throw up your hands and give up because you are financially pinched at the moment. Use these and other tips to make the most of what you have and resort to short term loans where you have to and you know you can repay on time.
