It will soon be the end of 2019 and the start of 2020. The start of a new year always seems like good idea to start afresh. The same goes for your finances! The start of a new year can be a great time to make some simple changes to get your finances in great shape. These five simple financial moves will help you to make a good impact in 2020. By sorting these before the end of 2019 will definitely help your pocket!
This time of year is the best time for having a bit of a financial sort out. A bit of a spring clean and spruce up, ready for the new year ahead. After all, who knows what the next year will bring us? A host of new experiences, new memories to treasure and mountains to climb. People will come and go during the year and new challenges will present themselves. Having your finances in order at the start of the year will help you no end during the time ahead! Especially with the uncertainties around the election and Brexit – it is never too late to be prepared.
Here are 5 simple financial moves to make before the new year:
1) Take time to look over your budget. I wrote this post about how to make a budget, and this is the time to test road that budget and make any tweaks before the new year starts. Writing and sticking to a budget takes practise, so no time like the present to start with this! There may be categories that are new, or are no longer needed, so now is the time to iron out those creases. Obviously, December might be more of an expensive month than usual, but getting in the habit of tracking spending and being more purposeful with your money will help you to make a great start in January 2020.
2) Know your incomings and outgoings. You cannot possibly be in control of your finances if you do not know how much you have coming in each month and what (in general) goes out. Obviously, there are some flexible numbers within a budget, such as food and entertainment, but you should definitely know what your direct debits are and what they add up to each month. For us, these include the mortgage, water rates, council tax and insurance. Obviously, you need more coming in than going out, otherwise your budget needs looking at! Knowing these correctly means you are equip to make any changes you might need to. The more you know about your own finances, the better!
3) Check your savings rates. Savings rates are always changing, and you can bet that at least one of your savings rates has changed over the past year. Take some time to go through your savings accounts, and doing some research into whether you are getting the best rate. After all, making your money work for you is the first step to a better financial future! Even better, open a stocks and shares ISA and start investing for dividend income 😉
4) Start a £2 savings jar. One of the first posts I wrote for The Frugal Cottage is The £2 Coin Challenge. An old challenge but a great one. This is quite an easy one to start, though I never seem to get any £20 coins, or not very often anyway. Even though I use the cash envelope method so use a lot of change! However, £2 coins are something easy to save but add up to a lot over the year. In fact….
5) Save all loose change in a big jar. We save all 1ps, 2ps, 5ps and 10ps in a big jar, and every so often, count up all of the change and pay it into our savings account. Every week, at the end of the week, I sort through my cash envelopes and put any loose change in a jar. That way, whenever we need change for something specific, generally we have it! Or, if I feel like there’s getting too much in there, then I either pay it into the bank or go to the self checkout at the supermarket and buy some things to add to our stockpile 🙂 either way, its a simple change to make a big impact!
I think these are relatively straight forward moves to do, as they can be done in a short space of time but will absolutely make 2020 off to a positive financial point, which in turn will (hopefully) mean that 2020 will be the best year yet. The best start to a new decade! 🙂
Do you agree? Have I missed anything out? Please let me know!
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