How To Manage Your Money Like A Pro

Sell Your Junk

Most of us have too much rubbish that we don’t need. If you never, or rarely ever use it, then sell it, donate it, or give it to someone that can use it. Those things don’t add value to your life and don’t bring you any joy. All they do is take up space and drag you down. So get rid of the junk and pass it along to someone that can enjoy it.

Understand Your Bank’s Interest Rates

An interest rate is a number that tells you how much it costs to borrow money. So it is important to learn what the interest rate at your bank means for your finances, high interest deposit accounts are great options in times of inflation.

When you deposit money in the bank, you may earn interest on that money, especially in savings accounts. In a sense, you’re lending money to the bank so they can use it elsewhere. In return, you get interest income.

Make A ‘Bills’ Calendar

If you have trouble staying organised when paying the bills, make a ‘bills’ calendar showing when each bill is due, and how much it’s for. Review it once a week and pay the bills due for that week.

Track Your Spending

Start to write down every penny you spend for 30 days. Once you do that, you can start getting a feel for what you’re spending on everything – then you can begin a monthly budget. A budget may sound complicated, but if you really stick to it, it will save you a lot of time and money in the long run. It may seem a little difficult to manage at first, but it gets much easier the more you do it.

Combine Your Finances If You’re Married

Once you’re married, there shouldn’t be ‘His’ money and ‘Her’ money or ‘His’ bills and ‘Her’ bills, (unless you prefer to keep it that way.) All of it belongs to both of you, and you use it however you both decide. So always deposit all of the money into one central checking account and distribute it from there. Doing that means you need good communication and, along with a budget agreed on by both of you, will potentially eliminate money fights.

Have An Emergency Fund

When you have money set aside for emergencies, you’re not tempted to go into credit card or other debt to deal with it. Everybody has the occasional emergency, and if you are already prepared when it arrives, that’s one less thing you will have to worry about in a time of crisis, and you won’t have to spend months or years paying it off.

Use Cash

Once your budget is done, put cash in envelopes for each category and use the cash only out of those envelopes. This simplifies things because you have a set plan to spend only so much, so you don’t end up spending more than you make.