Forget New Years resolutions. The pressure is too high and as soon as you say you’re going to give something up (because, let’s face it, it’s rarely about giving yourself something new, is it?) there’s a little inkling in the back of your mind telling you that you’re going to give up on it in a couple of months anyway so why TF should you bother.
But if you take something like your finances, an aspect of life that you can’t really hide from – no matter how long you put off checking your bank balance – and promise yourself to just try and understand money a bit better, you’ll be a bit better equipt further down the line if you do decide to give up Pret coffees on the way to work while you’re trying to save for a house.
So, that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to help you get started. Here on The Debrief we’ve already put together a handy guide on how to save money in your twenties, but where the hell to you start when you’ve never really given saving a go on your own and have no idea what actually happens to your cash between your office payroll and that late night ASOS order?
Check your balance
One more time for the people in the back! I'm very sorry to have to tell you that getting to grips with your money sitch requires checking your bank balance on the regs. But no, that doesn't have to mean having a little cry by the cash machine every afternoon. It just means finding easy ways to stay on top of what's going on.
Money managing apps like Monzo will send you notifications of what you've sent and what your card balance is every time you make a purchase. Some banks will even let you set up text alerts for every time a direct debit leaves your account. Find out and set one up.
Find your credit score
There's no bad time to work out what your credit rating is saying. Still not too sure what that is? It's basically a number that is used to work out the level risk involved in service providers lending you money. The higher your score, generally the more 'trust worthy' you are and you'll likely be offered better deals on things like credit cards and loans. The lower the score, the more difficult you might find it to borrow. If you sign up to a nice little app called ClearScore(it's free, don't worry), they'll be able to give you a full credit report and break down of what might be holding you back from those credit applications for phone contracts and stuff...
Having a great credit score isn't the be all and end all of grown up finances of course. You could find yourself with a relatively low score without having even had any credit cards to miss payments for! But things like not having much of a financial history, or even not being on your electoral roll can all play a part, MoneySavingExpert have a really straightforward explanation of how it all works if you want to get into the nitty gritty of it, and it's definitely worth investigating.
Don’t spend what you’ve got
It sounds counter intuitive, I know. But just because you have money doesn't mean you should spend it all. Stay with me here...
Forgive me for spelling out what I didn't understand to be obvious when I first started earning a salary. But what's in your bank account isn't always representative of what you can spend. It is not all disposable. When you're not in the habit of monitoring your ingoings and outgoings, it so SO easy to forget that rogue standing order you set up for this, or the ancient direct debit coming out for that. And that's one of the easiest ways to find yourself slipping into your overdraft more frequently than you'd like to.
Put loads of key money dates in your calendar (pay day, rent day, the day your phone/Netflix/gas bill comes out) taking into account things like weekends and bank holidays and then if ever you land on a day when your 'available balance' looks deceptively promising, you've got the payment dates to hand to look back on and work out what has or hasn't left your account yet.
Earn while you spend
You know when you hear those stories about a mum who manages to do her weekly food shop for -£17 for being super savvy? While some of the stories might seem like a bit of a stretch (and time consuming) it is actually possible to make little profits when you spend in certain places.
For the month of January, Android Pay are giving rewards such as vouchers and competition entries every time you make a Visa contactless payment. Nationwide and Halifax offer various money incentives to switch to their bank accounts and/or recommending a friend.
Make saving mandatory
It's simple really. Don't dilly dally. If you want to get serious about saving - or even if this is the first time you're giving it a go - the key is making it a really unremarkable, automatic part of your life. Open a savings account and set up a direct debit to leave your account on payday to transfer a fixed amount to your savings. Find a habit that works for you so that after a couple of months you'll be raking it in without even noticing.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.