5 Time-Friendly Ways to Improve Your Family Finances

You are busy, I am busy – we are all super busy. And we all have financial issues. That is not something to be ashamed of, but at the same time, it is not something you should neglect. Instead, you should take a couple of minutes out of your day to improve your finances. Here are the five best and easiest ways to do so that any financial planner would agree with.

1. $5 Jar

From this moment, stop spending $5 bills, as well as metal change. Instead, store it all in one big jar and let it accumulate. After just a couple of months, you will have hundreds of extra bucks you can spend on whatever you want. You can even paste a photo of your goal for that money (vacation, house renovation, etc.). There is also a variation where this jar can also be a swear jar – every time someone swears in the house, they put a $5 bill in the jar. Use your imagination, it will definitely pay off (pun intended).

2. Clear your wallet

Clutter is your worst enemy – in love, in life, and especially in finances. Why? Because cluttered ANYTHING means a cluttered and disorganized mind, and that is not what we want. We want everything nice and neat, and we want it to flow. This is why you should get your wallet and your purse, and organize everything in there. Throw out all the things that aren’t money and debit cards – that includes old receipts, old movie tickets, dead bugs, door knobs, etc. Do this once a month to prevent any possible mess.

3. Automate

You should definitely consider setting up automatic monthly payments for all your bills, so you don’t have to worry about late fees. And by doing this, you are also eliminating the possibility of spending money meant for bills on something unimportant. Another thing you can do is set up automatic payments from your checking account into your savings account, retirement account, and health savings account, so you don’t have to worry about those either.

4. Do something extra

There is just so much extra stuff you can do in order to save, or even earn some extra money for your family. Instead of playing games on your phone while you are in a waiting room, you can go through finance articles online. Another thing you can do is those fun paid surveys online while you are sipping your morning coffee. It is a fast way to share your experiences and opinions with people and earn some extra cash or various vouchers. You can include your friends and family members as well. You wouldn’t believe how easy earning money can be. All you need is a little bit of research – that is why, again, you should go through a few more savings-related articles, don’t just stay on this one.

5. Create a spending plan

It is a no-brainer that if you are spending as much, or God forbid, more than you earn, you will never get ahead – in fact, you are looking for trouble. Take your time at the beginning of every month and put it all on paper – your previous expenses, your expenses to come, bills, debts, etc. Have it all in one place and put that paper somewhere where you will see it every day such as your fridge, for example.

Basically, that would be it. The five best ways to save money quickly and easily. What do you think about these? Do you have any more tips or ideas you would like to share with us? If you do, please leave your comment below, maybe you will help someone who needs it.