Have you looked at your bank balance recently and been hit with a sense of sheer panic? You are probably not alone, money worries are unfortunately all too common. It often seems that money just flies out just as quickly as it comes in.
Living hand-to-mouth is no kind of existence, and if you are worried about spiraling debts and the fact that you may not be able to pay the bills at the end of the month, then it is time to give your finances a review and take back control of them.
Examine Your Current Expenditure
You may turn a blind eye to the money that goes out of your bank account each month. Sometimes it is easier to ignore it and hope that it sorts itself out. Sadly, this is not something that is likely to happen, and you need to take control of the situation before it consumes you.
Sit down with your bank statements and work out all of your regular outgoings. List them all and then prioritize them based on the type of outgoing that it is. High priorities will include things like your rent or mortgage payments. Any debts that you owe should also be high on your agenda.
Lower down the list should be the things that you could do without. So this may include your subscriptions to the gym, or streaming services like Spotify, or Netflix.
Then you need to work out what you spend each month on food and transport and create a monthly maximum spend for these areas.
If you find that your outgoings don’t match up with your income you will need to make cutbacks The low priority luxuries should be the first thing to go.
Switch Your Services
Very often, you may find that you are paying out too much for some of the services that you have. Things like car insurances can creep up every year, so it is important to shop around for a new quote and change your provider.
Similarly, your utility providers will also tend to up their prices without you really noticing. When it comes to your gas, electric, phone, and broadband bills, you may be able to save yourself some money by shopping around and switching to new providers. You should realistically aim to do this every year to keep on top of the best deals.
Consolidate All Of Your Debts
If you have multiple debts across a number of different companies, you will be paying out several lots of interest. Having several credit cards and loans can mean that you are constantly juggling your debt and you may not really be reducing the overall size of it.
You should aim to consolidate all of your debt into one single loan, with an affordable monthly repayment. Work out the shortest length of time that you can affordably pay off all of your debt in, and then make sure that you cancel your credit cards once the balance is cleared by the loan.
