Broke Yet Again? Here's How To Manage Your Finances

There are high chances that we might end up being broke due to excessive, unnecessary and unplanned spending. Be it just going out for window shopping and end up actually shopping a lot of things or spending in restaurants. Most of us don’t realise where we spent the money and end up scratching our heads.

To avoid all the hassle, here are some simple tips to manage your finances right!

MAKE YOUR BUDGET PLAN

Planning is very important in every sphere of life. Planning prepares us for various situations. Similarly, it’s imperative to plan your budget. Divide your income for different expenses. This budgeting will help you have an overview of how much money you can spend.

TRACK YOUR SPENDING

Once you have your budget in place, keep a track of your spending. Maintain a budget calendar according to your division of expenses and keep adding as and when you spend. It will be beneficial if you could track it regularly to avoid confusions later.

HAVE A BILLBOARD

Have your own billboard to track your spending. It’s natural that we might not be able to track our spending and feed it up in the calendar but we can definitely collect our bills and stick them on a board. This is the most efficient way as this is a proof of our spending. Whenever there is a shortfall in the calculations, the bill comes to your rescue.

BUILD AN EMERGENCY FUND

Make sure you have an emergency fund kept separately from your income. Sometimes we might become spendthrift and be broke at the end of the day. So, keep the emergency money saved up every month. (once you have kept it aside, forget that you have one so that you spend carefully and not think that I can spend because of the backup)

Credit card by Money Alpha

CREDIT CARD SHOULD BE FOR EMERGENCY

Most of us tend to swipe our credit cards quite often. While it might not affect you at that moment, it will affect your budget plan next month. To maintain a balance throughout, do not use your credit card unless and until it’s too urgent.

FOCUS ON YOUR DEFAULTS

We all know our shortcomings and it’s  essential to realise especially in terms of your finances. If you spend on unnecessary things, then consider avoiding all the triggers. Figure out your weak points and try overcoming it or find an alternative.

INCREASE SAVINGS GRADUALLY

One of the main aspects of everyday normal budgeting in every household is savings. Start saving gradually. Do not save an enormous amount where you can’t think about buying an extra of anything. Keep it flexible. Once you get the hang of maintaining tracks and managing your finance becomes habitual, then increase your savings gradually. Start your saving journey by saving 10% of your income in various plans like the Systematic Investment plan and mutual funds, pension plans. Once you have your scheme to save your money, automate it so as to see your savings grow.

SET LIMITED FUN!

Even though usually there is no budgeting for fun. Do make sure you have money to have fun. What’s the point of not being happy and just saving money? Having said that limit your fun so that you can have the right amount of everything within your budget.

PRIORITIZE THE RIGHT THING

At the end of the day, we might make decisions out of the blue or might not adhere to our budget plan but always prioritize the right thing. If you think it is slightly deviant from your original plan but if you feel it’s the right thing, then do make sure you can manage the overall budget.

DON’T BE HARD ON YOURSELF

At the end of the day, you should smile and be happy. Do what you like and set your budget according to you and don’t be hard on yourself. This is the most crucial part because once you get hard on yourself for striking the balance and saving money, there are chances that you might end up questioning various things. So, be flexible and happy.

We have tried to strike the balance in getting ten important points to manage finances and we hope that you strike the balance too in actually managing your finances! Happy budgeting!

Also read: How To Change A Flat Tyre

Reshma Ganeshbabu is an intern with SheThePeople.TV.