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New Year resolutions can be scary.
It is for me as I find it hard to stick to my list of goals.
Sometimes making easy to achieve resolutions can give better results than when we set higher to reach goals.
For those of us looking to make financial resolutions, here are the top 12 financial resolutions that will improve your overall financial health.
These financial goals are great for anyone looking to increase savings, pay off debt or just maintain healthy family finance.
The goal here is to choose at least two from the list below, and once you achieve your goal, move to the next two.
Rather than trying to do them all at once, taking them one step at a time may give you better results.
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read disclosure.
Start a Free Side Hustle
No better way to increase cash flow than to begin a new side job. We are not talking about a regular 9-5, but instead a flexible side job that allows you to work one or two hours a day.
Some side hustles that allow you to do that are:
- With Survey Junkie you can earn up to $50 per survey if you live in the US, Canada and Australia. Join 9 million other users that are making money with paid online surveys.
- Earn up to $300 an hour taking part in research studies. Respondent is an online platform that connects you to paid studies which can be in the form of online surveys or a video call. Check out respondent here.
- Online Proofreading: Get paid $40,000/year correcting grammatical errors online. As a proofreader, you will get to correct punctuations and spelling mistakes in ebooks, blog posts, email newsletters, cookbooks and any other online content. Read how you can make over $40,000 a year online proofreading.
- Online tutoring for primary school kids: You can work from home with VIPkid tutoring kids for $14-$22 an hour. This is a good supplemental income for those that have a tutoring or mentoring background. You can have any bachelor’s degree to join them.
Repay Debts on Time
When you receive your income the first expense you make should be to clear the pending debt. Accumulating debt puts an extra burden on your shoulder by leaving you with a larger sum to clear in the future.
Make negotiations with other expenses each month, like groceries, or clothes shopping that can wait.
Move to a high-interest Savings account
Use a bank that offers a high rate of interest on your savings account.
One such bank that offers one of the best interest rates is CIT.
There are two ways you can earn CIT’s 1.85% APY. One is by making a minimum $100 monthly deposit on their savings builder account or by maintaining a minimum balance of $25,000.
Reduce Grocery Expenses
This is one expense we all need to make each week. Most of our weekly shopping list ends up being the same each time – except for a “once in a while” expense like diapers or cleaning products.
Have a grocery shopping list and make sure you follow it religiously. When you have a list, you don’t tend to write down soft drinks, or other sweet treats. But when you shop you might wander aisles buying products that might not do good for your finances or health.
Try this free all-in-one phone app for grocery shopping lists, meal planning and creating useful daily memos.
Meal Plan for $5 a month
Meal planning avoids the urge to do takeaways. Since you have worked out meals every week, there is no need to worry about spending on eating out.
The $5 meal plan is one of the most popular budget-friendly ways to help you cook healthy. It comes with a shopping list and the ingredients used are healthy and cheap.
Free 14 day trial – $5 meal plan
Cut Monthly Bills
Not always do we receive paper bills. In this day and age, most of us have set up a direct debit for our outgoings.
Some of these are paid monthly, quarterly or yearly. It is hard to keep track of them unless we have a record of it.
Trim is a useful free app that automatically cancels unwanted subscriptions, negotiates your Comcast bill, finds you better car insurance, and more.
Eliminate bank fees
If you take a look at bank transactions for late fees, monthly service fees, credit card interest fees or account maintenance fees, you will be surprised how much you are wasting paying extra each month.
Using Cushion.ai you can get refunds from unnecessary fees your bank charges you.
Cushion’s bot negotiates with your bank and gives you a refund summary within 24 hours.
Cash for Shopping
Try and stick to cash when you shop.
When you use cash, you can see how much you have to spend.
Make a rough estimate of how much you normally spend each week. Say its $100. Next time you do your grocery shopping, take no more than $100 in cash.
If online delivery works out better, you can use this option too. The reason I say this is because you see how much you are spending and the final total. If you feel you have exceeded your limit, cut down items you might not need.
Using cash and online grocery deliveries prevent impulsive buys.
Cashback & Rewards
There are many cashback sites that offer money-back on your shopping. Using a cashback site will save you money each time you shop.
One of the best and popular cashback rewards site is Swagbucks. There is more than one way to earn with Swagbucks – from daily surveys and getting paid to search the internet.
Improve Credit Score
Having a healthy credit score is good to apply for a loan or mortgage. A good credit score tells a lender that you will be able to keep up with repayments. This also allows you to get a lower interest rate to pay.
Online Deal Finder
Make use of online deals and coupons.
I was very surprised to know of many online coupon sites with VALID coupon codes saving me almost 40% on certain products.
For instance, the Honey app is a free coupon browser extension that automatically adds coupon codes to your checkout. Saves you the time searching for the latest coupon codes on the internet.
Begin an Emergency Fund
This is not something new to you if you have started a budget.
If not, its never too late to begin an emergency fund.
Contribute as little or as much as your budget allows you. This gives you some extra cash to spend in case of a financial situation – make sure to only use it if you need to.
Retirement Benefits
It is important to plan your retirement at an early age. Apart from saving for your retirement, you can also begin contributing to your retirement plan like the 401(k).
If you are not already doing so, check with your employer to see if they allow 401k contributions. By doing this, you are not only saving for retirement but also lowering your taxes.
Use Bloom’s free analysis to find out how your 401k is doing.
Track Expenses
Not a bad idea to write down how much you spend each month.
Having a journal to note down your spending, helps you understand where you might be going wrong with your budget.
