The beginning of the year is always the best time to evaluate your spending habits and money management skills, as well as formulating ways and making plans to get better at managing your finances. This is most ideal especially if you have plans for the year that would require spending or saving up big amounts of money and/or investing your hard-earned money.

Create A Budget

Creating a budget and making a list of all your incomes, savings, and expenditures is a fool-proof way of tracking your finances. It primarily serves as a record of where all your money went and gives you a clear picture of your financial situation. This written record will allow you to better monitor your finances, thereby making money management a whole lot easier.

Plan Those Purchases

Whether you have major purchase plans for the year, like buying a house or a new car, or simply doing the groceries weekly, it is best to plan your purchases ahead in order to see how you can regularly set aside a fixed amount for the said expenses. Creating such will also allow you to schedule major purchases around those dates when you are expecting bigger income or additional bonuses while relegating smaller or regular purchases on dates when smaller amounts of money are coming in.

If you are planning to buy a new house, using calculator apps like the one found at https://www.sofi.com/home-affordability-calculator/ will also be effective in helping you plan and prepare your budget for this major purchase.