Everybody makes New Year resolutions. Whether it is losing a bit of weight, finding a new job or mastering a new skill.

Unfortunately, many of these well-intentioned commitments fall away with the daily struggles in life.

One of the most popular New Year’s resolutions – to get control of your finances – is often one of the first to go out of the window.

In this blog post, we share our top tips on how to make and stick to a household budget in 2019.

Record income and expenditure

You can’t set a budget if you don’t know how much you usually usually comes in and how much usually goes out.

Go back through your bank records and track all your income and outgoings until you have a good idea how much you spend. Don’t forget to include regular one-off expenses like MOT bills and car insurance payments, as you will need to factor those into your budget.

Assume the worst

Budgets are based on assumptions. And good budgets are based on conservative assumptions.

When you are making your budget, you can hope for the best. But you should expect some of your bills, like the weekly shop, to increase. Its also a good idea to put a little money aside each month in an emergency fund to help pay for big unexpected bills.

Pay off debt

Debt is a drain on your personal finances. If you have unpaid credit cards, loans or any other kind of debt, these payments should be a priority in your budget.

Write out how much you owe and how much interest you are repaying on each debt. Then you can prioritise them according to which are the most expensive. You can then try to make realistic cuts to your expenses or forgo investment contributions to try and pay down this debt faster.

Look for opportunities to save

If you can’t increase the amount of money you have coming in, the only way that you can increase your spending power is to save money on your expenses.

One of the easiest ways to free up a little extra money each month is to compare quotes for electricity, gas and broadband. You can also reduce your monthly outgoings by shopping around for everything from food to holidays.

Adjust your budget

Life is constantly changing and your budget needs to keep pace if it is going to be useful. Make sure you take account of any changes in your income, expenses of living arrangements in your budget and make the necessary adjustments to your spending.

If you are struggling with debt and you can’t balance your budget anymore, then you may need to seek professional debt help.

Are you struggling with problem debt? Speak to a member of the team today. Call: 0800 611 8888.