Just like every other resource, money needs to be managed well to maximize its value. However, consistently keeping track of your money and tapping all avenues for cutting costs can be a significant undertaking. This can be the case when you’re incredibly busy or if you have multiple income streams and a wide range of products and services that you purchase and subscribe to. Staying on top of your finances can seem so low on one’s list of priorities when you’re busy figuring out life, managing a household, working your way up the career ladder, or running a business.
Effectively using your financial resources can have far-reaching consequences, especially in this economy. The points and cashback rewards that you can earn when shopping for essentials using your credit and debit cards can be used as a buffer against the ongoing and sharp incline in the price of goods and services. Having perfect control over your spending habits can help you build an emergency fund and possibly avoid situations where you must deal with financial strain. It will also enable you to start or increase your investments when the perfect situation arises, which is a move that can have a significant impact on your long-term financial objectives.
How to Make Time for Financial Assessment, Planning, and Decision Making
If you’re incredibly busy, it can be difficult to find time to sit down and carefully consider how you can maximize the value of your financial resources. To make time for financial assessment and planning, you need to make it a priority. Unless someone else can manage your money for you the exact way you want it, you’ll need to take on this task yourself and set aside a particular date and time to think about money matters. Perhaps setting a deadline can help. You may want to take the time to analyze your finances before the next billing cycle starts, or you can make it your goal to invest more in light of an upcoming personal or professional milestone.
Once you have a set deadline for yourself, pencil in your financial assessment and planning session in your calendar. To make the event more productive, set aside a few hours for it and make a list of the references that will help you determine exactly how you spend your money, such as your pay slip and billing statements. Having these on hand will help you make informed decisions about money in a short amount of time. In addition, decide when you’ll hold your next financial assessment session to see if the changes you’re about to implement are leading you to the effects that you desire. Planning the next session before you’re done with the current one will help you make a habit of analyzing your finances and carefully considering where your money goes.
Quick and Practical Ways to Manage Your Finances on Busy Days
Now that you’ve set aside time to think about your finances, the next step is to make a habit of making your money work for you. Here are a few things you can do to better manage your finances, no matter how busy you may be.
Use Mobile Applications to Keep Track of Your Income and Expenses
It can be a pain to use a pen and a piece of paper to record everything you’ve spent your money on over the course of a week or a month. Not a lot of people depend on these tools these days, but most folks cannot bear to part with their digital and mobile devices. If you find yourself in the same situation, perhaps you can consider using your phone to record all the things that you’ve spent money on in the past few days. For starters, you can download your financial services providers’ mobile applications onto your phone and control your finances from there.
Modern banks that cater to a tech-savvy market should be able to give their customers control over their personal finances in almost real time. You can, for example, use the RBank Sign Up page to create an account with Robinsons Bank, then download the accompanying mobile banking app on your phone. Using the app, you can monitor your finances, directly transfer and receive funds, and pay your bills in a snap. The app keeps a list of your activities, which you can then use as a reference when assessing your monthly cash inflow and outflow. In addition to mobile apps directly linked with your bank, you also have the option to use other digital financial services as well as budgeting apps to make sure that all your income and expenditures are accounted for.
Look Into Financial Management Options that Use Automation
Paying bills used to be such a time-consuming activity, but not anymore. These days, service providers are keen on using digital payment channels to collect what they’re due, as this method is more cost-effective, convenient, and safer for both providers and their customers. Some businesses take it a level further by giving their customers the option to automate their payments. This arrangement is often enabled by service providers that offer subscription packages to their customers. Since they’ll be collecting the same amount month after month, these companies give their market the means to automatically deduct the package price from their connected bank accounts at the beginning of the billing period. Check if your services provider offers this option and activate it on your mobile banking app to make completing your monthly bill payments a much easier chore.
Plan Your Meals to Eat Healthy and Prevent Unnecessary Spending
More often than not, a good chunk of a person’s spending goes to the food they eat. This is especially true for busy individuals who have made a habit of having food delivered because they don’t have time to cook. There’s nothing wrong with ordering food, and there are even opportunities for one to enjoy discounts as a regular food delivery customer. Still, depending on take-out meals for daily sustenance can set one’s finances back a bit, and it might also be an unhealthy practice.
To save money and subscribe to a healthier diet, it’s a good idea to get into meal planning. You can do this by dedicating a day to cooking and freezing meals, then simply reheating the meals during the course of the week. If this is still too time-consuming for you, you can also opt to sign up for healthy food delivery programs that will send quality food right to your doorstep for a set price every week or month. This way, you will have better control of how much you need to spend on food as well as the quality of nourishment that your body receives, plus you don’t have to spend too much time thinking about the week’s menu as someone else will take care of this task for you.
Assess Your Spending Habits and Choose a Suitable Budgeting Strategy
Budgeting is an important skill that every adult will use, but this doesn’t mean that there’s only one correct way of managing your money. There are different ways to budget your finances, and the right option for you can depend on your financial goals, lifestyle, and the money you have access to. Some people save a quarter of their income and use the rest of it for expenses, while others begin by setting a goal and then determining how much they need to save every month to reach their goal amount within a particular time frame. How about you? Do you prefer to automatically save a portion of your income, or would you rather have a clear objective before you start setting aside money? You need to choose a budgeting and saving strategy that works well for you so that you have a better chance of succeeding in this endeavor.
Check for Freebies and Discounts When Shopping Online
Online shopping has made it much easier for tech-savvy individuals to get their hands on the supplies they need for their household and the things they want to own. Perhaps you’re an avid shopper yourself and you’re keen on maximizing the value of the money that you spend online. One way to go about this is to check for discounts and promos that you can use with your purchases. There are online stores and marketplaces that reward their regular customers with discounts, freebies, and free shipping services to encourage them to keep shopping regularly. These opportunities are often accessible during special dates like on or before a holiday or payday. To quickly get the most bang for your buck, you can look for promo codes or check out your items on special dates. This will give you a better chance of using discounts, cashback rewards, and other points that you can use for present and future purchases.
Simplifying Your Financial Management and Making Your Money Work for You
There are plenty of tools that you can now use to simplify the way you manage your money without reducing the number of products and services that you can pay for and access at any given time. Explore these options and you’ll have a better idea of how they can help you save time and energy when managing your finances. Who knows, taking time out to manage your money might help you become more efficient with your day-to-day activities and enable you to spare more time for yourself and your loved ones in the long run.