Being able to manage your money responsibly is a skill that is simple to learn but difficult to implement in our everyday lives. That being said, here are some essential steps to take when looking to improve your money management skills:
Smart Money Management: Create a Realistic Budget First
One of the first steps to money management is setting a realistic budget that you can stick to. You’ll need to make a list of all your monthly expenses such as rent, transportation costs, and living expenses.
This will help you see exactly where your money is going and highlight areas where you can make changes to your spending habits. It is also a good idea to refer to your budget frequently to make sure that you won’t exceed it by the end of the month.
Limit Recurring Charges
If you are currently subscribed to services that you barely use, then you are missing out on potential savings every month. It can be very easy to forget about these payments as they are charged from your account automatically every month.
With a budget in place, you can easily identify which services are charging you at the end of each month. After tracking your expenses, make sure to cancel all unnecessary recurring charges in order to better manage your money.
Build an Emergency Fund
Building an emergency fund is an essential step in money management that is often overlooked. Life is full of uncertainties so it is a must to have some extra money saved up for when things go bad.
The easiest way to build an emergency fund is to set up automatic contributions that are deposited into a savings account every month. The goal is to separate this emergency money from your checking account in order to reduce the temptation of spending instead of saving it.
The minimum amount that you should have saved up is three months’ worth of expenses, but having more is better. Even if you aren’t able to add much to your emergency fund, a small amount can still save you from when things go south.
Pay Off High-Interest Debt
High-interest debt can be a huge obstacle when trying to achieve financial freedom and manage your money. Paying off high-rate debt like one unpaid credit card balance is a must.
In order to save the most money, you should make the minimum payments on all debts while prioritizing paying off the card charging the highest interest rate.
Then you can start gradually moving on to paying off cards with lower rates. While this method isn’t the most motivating, it will always result in paying less interest over time.