New Year, New You: Tips on How You Can Make Yourself Financially Smarter In 2015

It’s a beginning of a new year again, and unlike your broken New Year’s resolution, the beginning of 2015 is a good start to suture up your finances. After going on a splurging spree last holidays, it’s about time you rev up your financial handling this year. After all, what better time to start making yourself wiser and better than the start of a year? Here are some ways you can improve your financial mastery this 2015.

Track every Peso…

You may be loose when it comes to money last year, but you can take the opportunity to wipe your slate clean and take control of every incoming and outgoing Peso. To keep your money accounted at all times, make sure to make a list of all your expenses—specifically your basic expenses like bills, food, daily spending, and others. If you are not fond of making complicated books, then a simple list will suffice; as long as you can monitor your expenses.

…and eliminate the unnecessary expenses

When you make a list of all your expenses, it is easier to find which ones are necessary and which ones are avoidable. In fact, the true purpose of creating a list is to have the ability to work out some of your financial snags and eliminate unnecessary spending. As long as every expense is documented, it’s easy to gap the holes on your monthly budget.

Set an immediate financial goal (which is achievable by the end of the year)

The problem with most financial goals is that most of them tend to create goals that are impossible to achieve within a certain amount of time. Human psychology reveals that goals that follow the SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely) paradigm are more likely to be accomplished as opposed to far-fetched financial goals. For instance, set a certain amount that you want to save by the end of year. However, do not forget to include more immediate checkpoints such as target savings after three months, six month, and so on. This will help you streamline your path in achieving your goals.

(Check out: Deposit Account Tips That Will Help You Get Better Yields)

Use technology to your advantage

If you’re still not using technology to help you monitor your cash flow, then you need to step up your game and make your gadgets work for you. There are tons of tools across all platforms that can make budgeting much easier—performing a wide variety of tasks such as tallying of monthly budget, reminding you of deadline of payment of bills, and divvying up expenses among friends. Just keep in mind that your apps will not do everything for you; you need to be actively using your apps and be in the know of every aspect of their mechanics.

Make a resolution to never miss bill payments again

It may be a bit discouraging to get up and pay bills on time, but keeping up your deadlines will steer you clear from late fees and other penalties. By missing your deadlines, you are losing control over your finances—and you are billed for it. Whether they are credit card bills or utility bills, make sure to pay them on time and in full. You don’t want to look back after a year and see that you incurred a hefty sum of late fees, which should’ve gone to your savings instead.

These are just some of the tips you might want to follow. The trick here is to use the start of the year to build momentum and keep your new habits until you can take full control of your finances.