Money Matters : The Financial Diet To Stick To, This Year!

“Finance is the art of passing money from hand to hand until it finally disappears.” ~ Robert W. Sarnoff

As the hype for the new year has come to an end, let’s talk about how to transform your year financially. It’s very common to make new year resolutions regarding our health, friendships, gym goals, education and the like. But no one really talks about finances.

As usual, I have been inspired by my broke self to make this post and empower us all to #getrich2018. Lol.

Here are 5 ways to make your financial life better for you in 2018 :

1| Clear Those Debts

If you are in debt, the first step to financial freedom is clearing that up. It’s hard to get well financially when you’re swamped with debts and loans. Pay up all your bills, loans and credit card debts. Review what you owe and what it costs you. Pay down in many ways like installments, percentages, etc.

Because, imagine saving up and then not seeing any results because you’re using up your savings to clear debt.

2| Save Up!

I like how everyone is very conscious of saving money and all of that good stuff, so I won’t go into much detail. The question, however, is  “how much should I save?”

A good way to kick-start this process and help you save enough is maybe taking out 10% of your income every month and keeping it aside. So let’s say, you earn 350 euros per month, you can take out 35 euros from that and keep aside. And, if you want to be an extremist like me, take out 50 euros. Open a savings account, get a piggy bank, use an envelope. All of these help to pile some money up for the future.

3| Know the reason why & prioritize

Most times, the reason why people don’t save is probably because they don’t know why they are saving. What do you want to gain from this in the future? Why do you want to save money?? List out possible things that could help motivate you. E.g if you plan on buying a house, a car, or to go on a trip in the future. Knowing the reason why you’re saving helps to create a vision of what you plan to achieve in the future.

4| Be disciplined

“lack of money is not the problem, it’s what you do with it that counts”.

I’m not sure if that quote made any sense but , learning discipline with finances is never easy. So the truth is that whether you make 10000 dollars yearly or just 10 dollars, you will always have a struggle if you are not disciplined.

Staying disciplined includes making sure you stay consistent with your savings, -by making sure it does get topped every month, getting real and naked with yourself and finding where most of your money is going to and then cutting off everyday expenses which are not really a necessity (a post is coming on this).

Also, do not allow the setbacks get you down. Accept it happened, deal with it and keep moving forward.

5| DON’T TRY TO KEEP UP WITH PEOPLE’S STANDARDS 

And lastly, to share an excerpt from one of my old posts:

Don’t spend so much money trying to impress other people.. I know we watch a lot of YouTube and Instagram videos and we wish we could be that lavish, but the truth is that we don’t really know the source of their money.. so lets just stay in our lane and cut our coats according to our sizes eh?

I understand the struggle, especially as students, to even get the money to save in the first place, but it’s still possible to achieve, with a lot of discipline and patience.

What steps are you taking to make your finances better in 2018?