4 Tips to Keep To Your Budget By Simplifying Your Finances

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Maths is an academic subject, folks go to college for years to study its complexities, and they need professors to its finer points.

However, your finances shouldn’t be like this. In fact, the simpler they are, the better. This is because it means you will have more success keeping to them and that means you will be able to reach your goal much quicker.

With that in mind check out the easy ways below that you can simplify the finances in your own life.

 

#1 Divide and Conquer

Many people can struggle to keep an eye what cash they have left in an account that has lots of different bills coming out at different times. One solution to this is to create different accounts for different things.

To do this create a saving account, a bills account, and a current account to separate out all the areas of your finances. You can even set up an additional account to save for something specific. Then you can easily see at a glance where your budgets are in each area.

However, it is valuable to remember that not all current accounts suit this way of banking. This is because they require you to keep a minimum in there for a certain amount of time. That means it definitely worth checking the status of your account before you try this method.

 

#1 Use Cash

A simple way of keeping your finances simple is to stop using cards, contactless or otherwise. There are two reasons why this works. The first is that you draw out an amount of cash at the beginning of the week and you can easily see what you have spent and what you have left. Providing a visual reminder of your budget limit.

The second is that it can actually help you be a bit more thoughtful about the choice of whether to spend money or not. This is because it is much harder to hand over the cash than it is to swipe a contactless card.

Something you can even do on vending machines now! Cold hard cash just feels more real, and cannot be lost track of in the same way. Something that makes it a fantastic aid to stop you overspending.

 

#2 Bank Online

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Next, if you haven’t got an online bank account already consider opening one, as this can hugely help you to simplify your finances, The reason for this is that access to your accounts is no longer limited to banking hours or the bank’s locations.

In fact, you can get an app of your phone that allows you to check your balance a performs most banking services from wherever you are at whatever time of day. You can even open a bank account online with no money now, as long as you have a decent credit history.

With such instant access to your banking info and service, it can be a lot easier to keep on top of your finances and keep to your budget.

 

#3 Set Early Dates

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We all have outgoings to pay for each month, but keeping track of them and the effect they have on our overall balance can be a bit of a nightmare.

To simplify this process, it’s best to always set payment dates as close to the beginning of the month as you can. With none past the 10th if at all possible. You can actually do this by contacting your providers separately, and some even allow you to change payment dates in your online account with them.

The reason for this is that once you are passed the tenth of each month you can know for certain that all of you big bill is paid and whatever is left is yours to spend. Something that can mean keeping to a budget is much simpler.

 

#4 Track with a Spreadsheet

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If you are looking for super simple, then you can’t get better than a basic spreadsheet for tracking your finances. All you need is a row for the total you have coming in each month.

Then some rows below that for each individual outgoings. At the bottom of the sheet, you need to create a box for the result of the total minus the outgoings, something you can read more about creating here.

Then just add some extra rows so you have room for additional purchases and you have a super simple and useful way of tracking your spending. Combine this with online banking, and using only cash and you will find it incredibly easy to keep to your budget every month.

So what are you doing to make sure you keep in check with your budget?  Share your comments below.

Cheers!

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