Want to save more money, enhance your career, and reduce your debt? Sometimes all it takes is introducing a few clever personal finance life hacks into your life. Using the right tips and tricks can significantly enhance your financial health and set you up for a prosperous year.
BEST Personal Finance Hacks
It’s an excellent time to start changing the way you handle your finances this new year. Whether you need some good financial New Year’s resolutions or simply want to enhance your financial well-being, here are five best personal finance hacks for 2022 and beyond.
1. Automate Your Savings
One of the biggest mistakes people make when it comes to saving money is not doing it consistently enough. If you only transfer a little bit of money to your savings account now and then, most of it will remain in your current account where you’re more likely to spend it. Understanding how online savings accounts work is crucial for effective money management. These accounts are designed to help you save money consistently.
That’s why automating your savings is one of the best steps you can take. For instance, you could set up an automatic transfer of 20 percent of your monthly earnings to go straight into your savings account. It will help you put more money away and reduce your sporadic spending.
To get the most out of your savings, you can even shop around for a high-interest savings account. Saving large chunks of money becomes much more tempting when you get a nice return on your investment each month. Plus, putting your money in a separate account can promote good long-term saving habits.
2. Keep A Physical Savings Pot
While enhancing your digital savings is important, you should also try to save more money physically. Carrying more cash, however, may result in more spending when you might want to save this money for something important instead.
A simple jar or money box can be great for this. Keep it somewhere you pass often, such as your hallway or kitchen, and try to add a dollar or even just 50 cents each day. You could also empty any loose change in there.
Even if you save a negligible amount of money each day, it will add up fast. Soon enough, you’ll find you have enough to cover your grocery bill for the week or to treat yourself to a meal. If you don’t touch your savings for a long time, you could even put the earnings toward something bigger.
3. Track Your Spending
Sometimes people end up spending far more than they should simply due to not tracking their expenses. If you casually buy a coffee here, a takeout there, and a few items of clothing each month, it can quickly result in significant and unnecessary financial losses.
As such, it helps to keep track of everything that you spend. Many apps can help you do this, and some people even like to keep spreadsheets. However, you also can keep track of your expenses by simply checking your bank account regularly.
Tracking what you spend can help you make smarter choices. For instance, if you spend $50 on eating out each week, you can try to reduce it to $30 or less. If you spend too much on clothes, you can limit your fashion purchases to once a season.
You don’t need to stop spending money on everything that you enjoy – simply keep track of how much you’re spending and keep it under a sensible limit. This will help you save more money and use your funds more wisely.
4. Stick To A Budget
Budgeting might seem like a hassle, but it’s one of the most powerful methods to enhance your financial stability. You might start by saving $10 a week but end up reducing your weekly expenses by $50, resulting in annual savings of $600.
Much like tracking your spending, you can now find many free apps to help you with this. Budgeting apps such as PocketGuard and Mint help you set limits for yourself and keep to them consistently.
The best way to start budgeting is to start small. Reducing your monthly expenses by a little bit each month can help you get the hang of budgeting. Before long, budgeting will become second nature, and you might want to stick to a weekly or even daily budget to help you spend less and save more.
5. Try A Side Hustle
Earning more money is one of the quickest and most impactful ways to improve your financial health. However, not everyone has the time to look for a new job or take on an extra one.
Fortunately, you can make more money without having to sacrifice a ton of time. Simply take on a side hustle in your spare time. There are now tons of easy ways to make extra income in just a few hours of free time.
For instance, you might want to start Uber driving in the evenings or become a DoorDash delivery person. You could also sell things online on eBay or Amazon. You could even offer freelance services to clients if you have marketable skills.
Even if you only earn an extra $50 a month, it can go a long way. However, with enough effort, you might find that your side hustle boosts your monthly income by hundreds of dollars.
Other Powerful Personal Finance Life Hacks
While these are some of the best ways to enhance your financial health in 2022, many other tips, tricks, and strategies can help.
Sometimes the best way to enhance your earnings is to simply enhance your career. If you’ve been working the same job long enough, the start of 2022 is a good time to negotiate for a raise – especially if you’ve been working hard over the holidays.
Alternatively, you might want to look for a new job if your current one isn’t paying enough. Finding a higher-paying role can pay off big time, not only for your bank balance but also for your career and life as a whole.
Of course, it also helps to reduce your essential expenses. While you can’t avoid paying for utilities such as electricity, gas and water, you can make them a lot cheaper. Installing energy-efficient light bulbs and appliances is a good start. Reducing your water usage can also help save a lot of money. One great approach is to compare utility providers online to find the most cost-efficient deal.
You should also take advantage of discounts, coupons, and reward programs wherever you can. Before you buy anything, check online to see if you can get some kind of discount via an email list, a rewards program, or any other method. There’ll be tons of sales during the holiday period, but looking for deals regularly throughout the year can help you save ample money.
Conclusion
Now is the best time to take control of your finances. Try incorporating these personal finance hacks into your daily life one by one, and you’ll notice a huge difference throughout the year.
In time, these life hacks will help you achieve all kinds of financial targets. Whether you want to eliminate your debt, save money for a holiday, or simply have less financial stress, these financial tips can change your life for the better.
*This is a collaborative post. All views and texts are mine.
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A former school teacher, Jocelyn Brown created Hip Mama’s Place in 2007. Her motto for this blog is: get inspired, create and share! Jocelyn loves sharing about food and recipes, crafts, DIY projects and her random travels with her family. She also loves all things social media, but her latest obsession is Instagram.
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I feel like I do so much better with money when I psychically have it!
Great tips for building and securing financial freedom. Thank you!
Sticking to a budget is so important! Works for us.
Such useful tips! We track our budget carefully and tip 3 is so important! It’s easy to think you spend less money on something (like eating out) than you actually do!
Keeping a physical savings pot is a great idea. I remember my first one, when I was still so little had my fore-gone little savings in there and when the time came to break it, I was so proud of myself.
I think the area of savings can not be underrated, I think am going to apply all 5 techniques this year.
These are great tips! I surely learned a lot from this. Time to save up!
Oh these are awesome tips! I love anytime people share them.
These are such useful tips! I need to automate my savings and stick to my budget. I’ll definitely keep these tips in mind 🙂
It is really important to have a check on your finances, I will consider this tips. Thanks for sharing!
We spend too much on eating out. The week gets so busy… no excuses, it really does, so we swing through a restaurant or get food delivered. We need to work on that
Those are great tips! We have an autosaving through work so it certainly helps.
I thing I still need to stick to a budget. I am so agree that this will help a lot.
It is so important to get finances in order. I definitely agree about having things automated. We are so busy in our lives and it helps to have things set up and consistent.
It is really important to budget and put money away for emergencies if possible. We have a big jar for change that we use for something fun every few years.
I really love this idea! This will help me a lot to budget and saving more money. Thanks for sharing this with us!
These are amazing tips! I’m hoping to be debt free this year. Setting up a budget and sticking to it is my goal. As well as finding more side hustles to get that extra cash flow. Thanks for these awesome recommendations!
These are great life hacks. I always save money the best I can. I honestly hate spending money unless I need to.
We all need to learn how to budget. I am trying to do some of these!
These are awesome finance tips. Being financially savvy is so important yet it’s something that’s not taught in school.
YES, YES, YES! Although we don’t pay cash for anything anymore. Which makes it easier for us not to have cash on hand. Otherwise..I will feel like I have money to spend. Love all your tips.
If there’s one great lesson the Pandemic has taught me. it’s to save money for emergencies. Thank you for these tips. We all want to be financially stable
We are planning on retiring next year and have implemented all of these to make sure we are saving all we can and being accountable for everything we spend.
If you want to be financially savvy this year, you gotta track your spending and automate your savings! Pay yourself first as they say
I’m always looking for ways to improve our finances. Thank you so much for the tips!
This post is really informative, thanks for sharing these personal finance hacks.
I try to do a lot of these. Budgeting is a must. You never know what can come up.
I do try to stick to a budget where I can. It doesn’t always work out but most times it does thankfully.
Love the idea of having a physical money jar or piggy bank. It’s just we haven’t really used cash in years! LOL!