One of the most popular new year’s resolutions that people choose when they’re making positive changes to their lives, is to save more money. While it’s nice to eat healthier and do more exercise, you’ll find that accomplishing most goals becomes a lot easier when you don’t have money worries to address at the same time.
If you’ve struggled to get your cash situation on track for the last couple of years, now is the perfect time to start fresh. You can make 2020 your year and accomplish more than ever with your finances using a few simple tips.
1. Forget about the Gym
Aside from saving money, one of the other more common New Year’s resolutions that people make revolves around going to the gym more often. However, your goal shouldn’t just be to spend time at the gym. Instead, you should be focusing on getting fit. Fortunately, you don’t necessarily need an expensive gym membership to do that.
There are plenty of opportunities to get fitter and healthier at home without spending your hard-earned cash on a gym. You can go for runs in your local town or check out some body weight training exercises that you co do with nothing but your own strength.
2. Learn About Loans
A lot of people assume that if they want to be financially independent, they need to leave things like loans and borrowing in the past. However, this isn’t actually the case. The secret to financial success isn’t ignoring loan opportunities or never borrowing money. Instead, you need to make sure that you can get the best deal when you do need some extra help.
Learning everything you can about the different lending opportunities that are available to you will ensure that you can get the best deal on your finances when money is tight. Sometimes, your best option will be a personal loan, other times; it will be a guaranteed payday loan, and so on. Remember, knowledge is power.
3. Switch cards for cash
We all love our plastic. Credit and debit cards make paying for the things that we want and need easier, faster, and more convenient. Unfortunately, they also mean that you’ll often end up spending more cash than you mean to without thinking about it. Switching from card payments to cash for more of your day-to-day expenses will force you to pay attention to the money that you’re spending and where it’s going. This could mean that you’re more mindful of every penny.
Leave your cards at home the next time you go shopping, and make sure that you only take enough cash to the store for whatever you need. Your risk of impulse buying will go down drastically.
4. Track your spending
It’s hard to figure out how you’re going to save more money in 2020 when you don’t know where your cash is going in the first place. With that in mind, it’s a good idea to spend at least a few months tracking where all of your cash goes when you start the new year. Keep your receipts and watch your bank statements, so you can add up how much money you spend in different areas of your life. This will give you an insight into some of your more problematic areas.
Once you know where you’re more likely to go over-the-top with your money, you can put strategies in place to reduce your spending. For instance, if you often spend too much on eating out with friends, invite your loved ones to come to your house for a home-made meal instead. You could even ask your friends to join you in a pot-luck cooking session.
5. Make your Own Coffee
Finally, why not make 2020 the year that you become your own barista? If you didn’t ask your friends and family for a coffee machine for Christmas, start by learning how to make your own basic drinks with nothing more than your stove. As you save up more money from avoiding your daily trips to the local coffee place, you can gradually save up for a machine that makes all your favorite drinks for you.
You can make virtually anything at home these days, from pumpkin spiced lattes to cappuccinos. If you’re taking your own coffee out with you, then you won’t be spending anywhere up to 5 dollars every day on expensive beverages. It might not seem like much at first, but the savings will quickly add up.
