Budgeting for the year

<collaborative post> January can be a difficult time for your wallet. Christmas is a time of excess and you might have spent a little too much. Fortunately, the new year is an excellent opportunity to get back on track financially. Below, we explore how you can effectively budget over the next 12 months.

Crunch the numbers

Sometimes it can be difficult to keep track of your spending – and this is where mistakes occur. There’s nothing worse than coming towards the end of the month and realising that you’ve dramatically overspent.

One way to alleviate this issue is to create a monthly budget. First, work out your incomings. Then, you can plan where you’ll spend this money. You’ll need to cover essentials such as your rent or mortgage, bills and groceries first, but hopefully you will have something left over to play with.

Set an emergency fund

However, even the best planning can be thrown off by a surprise bill or expense. This could be sudden repairs to your home, or your car could break down. If you’re thinking of a bad credit loan, you might want to try a line of credit, but it’s vital you make sure you can afford the repayments before you begin the application process.

Another way to ensure unforeseen expenses don’t sink you is to set aside an emergency fund. If you can spare a small portion of money, and never touch it, then you should be covered in most emergency situations.

Set a goal

It can be hard to motivate yourself to budget sometimes. However, by setting a goal you can give yourself a concrete target to make it all worthwhile. This could be something like working towards buying a car, redecorating your home or saving for the holiday of your dreams. By reminding yourself what it’s all for, you should be able to maintain the discipline needed to save.

Pay off debts

Paying off debts can help give you the solid foundations to budget effectively. If you’re constantly paying back interest, then it can be extremely difficult to save. As such, ensure that you pay off any debts as soon as possible to allow you to budget more effectively.

Budgeting can be difficult. However, by creating a monthly plan, setting an emergency fund, working towards a goal and paying off debts, you should find that you’re soon in a stronger financial position.