We’ve all been there. The months we over spend and end up not saving. But before this becomes a regular habit, get yourself back on track by tightening the savings belt. It is always easier said than done, but when it comes to your money, we are way better spenders than we are savers. It’s all about planning, budgeting and monitoring your money carefully. Here’s the GoDay guide on how to get back in financial shape and tighten that savings belt.
Know Your Spending
The first step to creating a savings plan is to know how much you have coming in and how much you have going out on a weekly, monthly and annual basis. Refer to past budgets or spending journals to take a look at where you were saving before and add in any new expenses that may have popped up. Once you know what you’re spending and where you’re spending it, you can move to the next step of readjusting your budget.
Tweak Your Budget
It is very common for people to have to tweak their budgets numerous times a year. Between new expenses, big events like back to school, or holidays such as birthdays and Christmas, these can all impact your spending and throw you off budget. That’s why when looking at where you can save, you can see where your money is going to be able to readjust it to still save money all while paying for all of lifes moments. Don’t let your savings account suffer!
Trim Down
Coffee every morning? Eating out numerous times a week? Shopping because it’s something to do? There are various ways you can start to cut back on your costs, as you may not realize how much you’re spending on those little things each week, month or year on that coffee every morning. We’re not telling you to not enjoy yourself but start by making smaller changes. Try going for coffee only twice a week instead of every day. You will be surprised at how quickly those savings will add up and get you into better savings habits.
Force Yourself To Save
Treat your savings account like a bill that needs to be paid each month. We’ve mentioned this before as one of our favourite savings hacks since there are many ways to do this. You can use automatic payments on the days you get paid to transfer funds directly into your savings account. With the money automatically transferred over, you will never even know you had it to spend in the first place! You can also transfer funds manually, set a goal for yourself of wanting to move a certain amount of bucks over into your savings and do that on the same day of each month for a year, you’ll see that account growing and be inspired to keep your new money-saving habits going.
What are your tips and tricks when it comes to tightening the savings belt? Let us know in the comment section below.
