If you’ve never budgeted before, knowing where to begin can feel intimidating. I know in the early days of our financial journey, I felt exhausted merely considering the idea of becoming better in tune with our spending. But taking control of managing your money doesn’t have to be difficult. It can be as simple as downloading an app or signing up for autopay on your bills. Here are 7 super simple money starting steps to a better budget.
Download an App
Tracking your finances has never been so easy. With the swipe of your phone screen, you can find out current balances, upcoming bills, and more. Rather than signing up for a pricey monthly subscription, simply begin by downloading your bank’s app. Most banks give you the ability to check your balance, transfer money between accounts, and even deposit checks using your phone’s camera.
Log in Daily
After you’ve downloaded the app or created an account on your computer, you have to check in daily. Bringing the numbers in front of your face on a regular basis helps curb your spending. And you’ll catch any potential credit card hacks or errors. Simply having an account isn’t enough, you need to make monitoring it a regular practice.
Gather Your Bills Into One Place
This sounds rather simple (after all, all of these tips are), but you need a centralized location in your house for all bills. Whether it’s a box or a folder or a drawer, you need a designated location where bills go so you’re not digging around for them in a scattered mess. This also may mean you need to set up a bookmark or folder on your laptop or tablet where you can access paperless bills in one place, as well.
Set Up Autopay for At Least One Monthly Expense
Speaking of those paperless bills, consider setting up at least one regular monthly expense on an autopay program. Oftentimes, autopay gives you a discount for making this choice. Be sure you’re familiar with the income and outflow of cash in your account so you don’t accidentally withdraw money that’s not there. Sometimes you can even choose your payment date (or range of payment dates) so it fits better with your monthly budget.
Tally Up Your Debt
If you haven’t already, you need to tally up your debt stat. For years, we paid minimums without looking at the sum total of what we owed. This convinced us things were “ok” and lulled us into a false sense of security. Once we saw the overall number, we were forced to confront our money issues. We also began to calculate how much more we’d pay in interest by sticking to the minimums and taking things to the full term.
Cancel a Subscription
You have at least one subscription you don’t use often enough. Especially if you picked up a free trial during the shutdown, you may be spending dollars you don’t have. Whether it’s a video streaming service or a gym membership. Start small by canceling just one thing.
Quit Looking for An Easy Out
Last but not least, it’s time to stop thinking you’ll win the lottery and solve all of your problems. Managing money is a skill learned by constant practice over time. Constantly thinking hitting it big or even making more money will solve all of your problems is a fallacy. In fact, gambling often causes even more problems for those who are already in trouble. The only true way to healthier finances takes work. The steps may be simple, but the work isn’t always easy. The good news is you CAN do it.
Take a deep breath, friend. You may be a beginner, but that doesn’t mean you’re not capable. Every journey begins with a single step. Take one of these and before you know it, you’ll be on your way.
Our new book Your Money, Your Marriage is now available! Be sure to check out videos on managing money together on Facebook.
My book is now available: Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After. You can also check out The Debt Free Devotional
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