So you started the year all organised and positive, and you are feeling good about yourself and your money – please don’t stop now! A healthy and sustainable relationship with money lasts a lifetime. It needs to be tended to carefully and consistently, so why not set weekly dates to stay on top of it and also get into a fun habit.
- Schedule it
Take this date as serious as any other date by keeping to a time and a venue, schedule it in your diary as an appointment. You can either do it at home or treat yourself with a nice coffee at your favourite hangout but be sure to not allow any interruptions.
- Keep the slips
Get into the habit to not only keep the slips but put them away safely so you can work through them every week. An alternative is to make notes on your phone as you spend the money. There are various free apps available as well to assist with keeping track of your spending. You don’t need much detail, just a quick recording of when it happened, what the expense was for how much was spent.
Once you’ve recorded all this information ensure the slips that will be required for a possible return of an item, or guarantee are kept safely, discard the rest.
- Invoicing
If you are in the fortunate position that you work for yourself ensure all invoicing is up to date and send friendly reminders if necessary.
- Pay your accounts
Pay any outstanding accounts as per the due date as to not incur any unnecessary penalties or have a negative impact on your creditworthiness.
- Review your statements
Review your accounts and bank statements to ensure that all the costs incurred are correctly reflecting on your accounts and bank statements. This extra check will just help to ensure that you don’t forget about any expenditure and also make sure the transactions listed is, in fact, yours. This will assist with overcharging, double transactions and possible fraud.
Have a look at the amount of transactions on your bank account and the respective bank charges against it. Investigate and see if there is an alternative plan/account available that will be more suited for your daily needs.
- Update your budget
Update your budget and manage your cash flow. Take a look at what money will be coming in and what will be going out. Ensure that you have cash available to cover all the outflows.
- Track your progress
Track your progress against your financial goals. Are you saving as much as you planned? Are you able to continue and hopefully increase your payments towards any debt that you might have? Be realistic and don’t over commit.
- Plan the next one
Always wrap up a money date by planning the next one. Ensure that appointment is set in your diary and start to think about all the possibilities of being in charge of your money.
At Debt Rescue, we know how difficult it can be to maintain a healthy relationship with money, if your debt overwhelms you, give us a call – we are here to help you.
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