In the cost of living crisis, money management is a difficult topic to talk about. Usually at this stage where people are struggling to heat or eat or pay their rent, this is not a money management issue, but a lack of wages issue and a cost of living issue. 

When the costs of being able just to get by day-to-day have gone beyond your wages, and your boss isn’t willing to up how much you are being paid, it can be very difficult to not rely on the low interest credit card or the overdraft you have on your bank account. If you are not struggling right now for money, you still need to know how to manage it. You still need to know how to ensure that your bills are paid on time, that your disposable income is used effectively, and you have savings being built up. So let’s take a look at some tips so that you can ensure that you have better money management as time goes on.

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• Complete a financial inventory. It’s so much more than just making the money work for you. When it comes to money management, you need to adjust your mindset and ensure that you are consistently looking at what your money is doing for you. Have you saved up enough so that you can avoid unexpected expenses? Are you currently living paycheck to paycheck? If these are things that you’re worrying about, then you need to get ahead of your finances by looking at what you’re spending your money on. Making a list of your bills that are necessary versus the money you’ve been spending on things that really are not necessary at all is important because it gives you a full financial picture.
  
• Build a blueprint. So once you’ve started with your money management journey, what happens next? You need to have a plan, so that means creating a budget that makes sense for you to be able to comfortably live on. Once you have that budget worked out, you can then blueprint where your money is going and determine whether you can pay down debt by funneling more cash into the high interest debt or whether or not you need to put more money in your savings account.
  
• Start making the most of your savings. Wherever your savings may be, you should try to move them into a high interest account that can yield good returns. If you have a cash Piggy Bank, keep that going, but notice that that’s not going to build any interest for you. Speak to your bank manager and see whether there aren’t any products or accounts in the bank that you bank with. That can ensure that you are able to build interest on your savings and make it work for you.
  
• Don’t give up. Financial management isn’t easy, but that doesn’t mean you should give up at the first hurdle. It’s going to take time to learn this because managing your finances is a skill.