To some, organisation does not come naturally. Whether you’re a bit of a self-confessed scatterbrain or you simply don’t have enough hours in the day, adding structure to various aspects of your life can be a challenge.
Out of all the things we must organise, our finances are some of the most pertinent pieces of everyday life that heavily benefit from it. Knowing exactly how much you have to spend or save each month is great knowledge to have, but it’s not easy to get it.
In this piece, we’ll divulge some money management tips for those hoping to get a grasp on their financial outlook. From organising your savings into a spreadsheet to consolidating where your bills are paid from, here’s how to organise your money from the ground up.
Different banks have different benefits. For example, with an Aldermore savings account, you can benefit from our excellent* customer service, an interest rate that’s consistently competitive, and FSCS protection.
Rather than incentivising customers with a sign-up bonus, we prefer to apply the most meaningful long-term benefits, like a friendly team to talk to and competitive rates.
In the age of subscriptions to gyms, streaming and more, it can be easy to get lost in a sea of standing orders and direct debits. While your providers will happily email you reminders when each bill is due, it helps to have your own running track record of everything that’s going out of your account.
Adding extra detail to these lists can also be quite helpful. While some entertainment packages will take out all your combined services in one direct debit, it helps to know what makes up that lump sum. If you subscribe to sports channels that you don’t watch, take note; some cancellations can help you save even more money.
The digital age has given us many innovations. One from a quality-of-life and a sustainability standpoint is the ability to completely eradicate physical bills and letters.
With paperless billing, not only is your billing much quicker due to not relying on physical post offices and couriers, but you can help reduce the amount of paper used to serve your monthly debts and outgoings. Even just having fewer physical bills to keep track of can help with that sense of feeling more organised. Receiving bills and bank statements electronically should mean that they are automatically filed in a logical way, so you can better keep on top of them.
As we mentioned previously, sometimes, your entertainment services providers will do a good job reminding you when a payment is due. However, this isn’t always the case, and should not be relied upon.
That’s why it’s always a good idea to set your own reminders for when certain outgoings are due to be paid. Whether you use a physical calendar on the fridge, a joint digital calendar between yourself and your partner, or even your phone’s built-in alarm or reminders system, having your own alerts in place leaves you less prone to forgetting when things need to be paid. This will also help you to not be caught out by auto-enrolments – if you keep track of when subscriptions are set to renew, you can opt-out if you decide you don’t need it anymore, and not end up paying for something you didn’t mean to continue with.
Everyone loves payday. Seeing money roll into your account at the end of the month is an unmatched feeling. The painful part, of course, is seeing that money gradually depleted throughout the month. Sometimes, it’s in one big chunk. In other instances, it’s a slow decline throughout the days and weeks that are ahead.
To avoid this disappointment, we recommend you instil a payday routine. Now, there are loads of different ways of tackling this – you can split up your savings using the 50/30/20 rule, or you can divert the money into your own categories accordingly.
Your first step is to figure out how much you’re likely to get paid at the end of the month. Once you have a figure, you can start subtracting all of your planned payments and scheduled outgoings.
If your payments aren’t due for a while, it’s good practice to square the money away to prevent temptation. Easy access savings accounts are great for this. With them, the money is still readily available should you need it in an emergency, while anything left over can benefit from savings interest.
We’re here to help you make the most from your savings. Thanks to our competitive rates and excellent customer service as voted by our customers*, at Aldermore, we’re all about making savings a habit of a lifetime, so you can reach your next milestone.
Explore our savings account options today and get a tighter grasp on your savings.
*Based on TrustPilot data. June 2024.