Five budgeting tips that have really made a difference:

I have never been very good at budgeting, whatever money I had left at the end of the month would either go towards a new pair of shoes or my savings account. But never both! I always thought budgeting is something for old, boring people but I am in my 30s now and if I ever want to be able to own my own home one day I will have to start acting like an adult.

After reading some savings tips I decided to give some a try and incorporate them in my everyday life to form healthy habits. Unfortunately, there is no get rich quick trick but the thing with habits is that they don’t feel like sacrifices once you get used it.

1) I like buying on my credit card because there are so many perks attached to it but it’s a slippery slope – I always make sure I do actually have the money before I buy anything on credit. My bank offers a service where you can set up your credit card to be paid off automatically each month before any interest is charged. You can choose to pay off the whole outstanding amount or only the minimum amount to avoid interest charges. BEWARE! A friend of mine had an automatic payment system set up but she didn’t realize that her payment only went through after late payment charges had already been incurred. Always make sure to check your statements and call the bank’s customer care service to make sure your auto payment is set up correctly!

2) My banking habits - I separate my current account and savings account, and pay any credit off first. Once I have transferred money to my savings account it has to stay there! Unless it’s to pay off credit. The interest you earn on a savings account and the interest charged on a credit card differs vastly. I always make sure to pay my highest interest debt off first!

3) I don’t keep sweets in the house – I make myself walk to the shops every time I crave chocolate. It’s more of a health-conscious habit but it does prevent me from buying a big bag of candy and polishing it off in one Netflix binge session. There is a risk attached to going to the shops more often though – the more often you go, the higher the chances are that you’ll buy more things than initially planned. So only take enough money with you for that one sweetie and nothing else!

4) I sign up to all the loyalty awards programs – all the spam used to drive me crazy but with the new GDPR regulations in force companies have to get your explicit consent before they may add you to their promotional emails. Companies generally offer good incentives when you sign up for their newsletters though – such as a 10% on your online first purchase. If I have a lot of time on my hands I sometimes go to the store, try one some outfits that I like and then see if I can order it online with discount vouchers.

5) I have started using a little budget planner – I didn’t want to at first but it does force you to start planning the month ahead of you. I found an easy-to-use budget planner - this nifty little tool made me think of how and where I spend my money. I was shocked to see how much money I spend on Starbucks on any given month. Instead of a Frappuccino every day, I have had to implement Frappuccino Fridays. It sucked in the beginning but now it’s a healthy habit.

I hope some of these tips and tricks above help!