Hi everyone. I think it's time for me to talk about money :))! And I can hear the song in my head ''it's all about the money money money... :)'' I thought I will share my experience how I got on top of my finances and hopefully you can find some useful tips in my post! I work 30 hours a week in the shop so you can guess I don't make tons of money.. so for this reason I am going to talk how I am managing a small income. I have worked in retail 20 hours before when I was a student and you can imagine I even had less money plus I had to pay for my course!
Just in Style how to manage small income

Overdrafts and Loans

While I was studying and paying for my course I couldn't afford my course with the amount I was earning. Living costs are expensive plus I had to pay for the studies! So I took an overdraft to help me with living expenses and I was paying for my course quarterly.  So during the time I was a student overdraft really helped me out but unfortunately occasionally I used to face bank charges when I went over my over draft plus the interest and plus arrange overdraft charge which was introduced to my account later. So the bank was making their money from my money! In the time I had my overdraft all charges and interest I had over the years probably was pretty much the same as the sum of my overdraft! The problem with debt is when you don't make much money it's hard to get rid of it and this is what happened to me. We all know money makes money! So the less we have the harder it gets!

So this is what I did to pay my overdraft off. Next day after I get payed or convinet day to go to the bank I would go there and reduce my overdraft. I think I was reducing it by £25 a month. Some months I skipped some months I would go to the bank and have like £80 in my account and week left until I get paid I would think sod it and reduce it buy £50 and go the rest of the week without money. I have to say it was tough but this was my goal! I think people in the bank thought I am crazy because I had no money and I was paying off my overdraft! But I just didn't want to waste any of my money to bank charges so I thought I could put this money towards my savings rather then pay banks for no reason! And if I reduce my overdraft allowance straight after I was payed I didn't felt any different seemed to have same amount of money just less overdraft! And in under a year I paid it off completely! After I did I felt a massive relief!!!! So my advice here is only borrow money from the bank when it is absolutely necessity because it takes time to pay it off, it's never easy and start repaying as soon as you can!

Savings

Start saving as soon as you can even if you are in debt! There are lots of savings accounts you can open with a pound. It's always good to have hundred pounds aside on days in need! What helps me to save I try to open savings account where I wouldn't have easy access to it. If I would have some money in my account I always spent it to the last penny but if I put for example a £10 in savings account I wouldn't feel the difference but in long term I know that money is there for me if I need it. Its always good to shop around for the best intrest savings account. Useful websites to compare are:

1.www.moneysupermarket.com
2.www.moneysavingexpert.com
3.www.gocompare.com

I have no intention to advertise these websites it's just I use them myself when I need an advice and I compare these websites for the best deal I am looking for!

Cut your Bills

Well what we did with my boyfriend before we just sign in with providers and kept on paying our bills... without knowing if we give them a call as a loyal customer and ask for a discount they would give it to us!!!! And it was an eye opener, I just wish we had done it sooner! We cut on TV, internet, phone package bill up to I can't remember exactly around £20! And I asked the lady if I would call in the future would I be able to get another discount and she said YES!!!  So yeah I am a regular caller now:)))!!! We just need to crack with our gas bill! In long term saves quite few hundreds so definitely recommend to try!

Budget Planning

We did spread sheet on Excel on one side writing down the income and in parallel down the expenses. Its very easy to manage budget on the excel don't need to think ohh where did I put that paper again?!  It's all there on the desktop and it's easy to change if you need to the income or the outcome. Planning your meals week a head and eating at home always a cheaper option. Make sure then you buy food include lunches because making lunches at home is always cheaper and healthier! Being a sensible shopper always helps. I discovered where my money was going by keeping receipts. Nearly every day I would pass Waitrose and get my free coffee and get something to go with it. And at a time its seems like it wont make a difference but it does! Especially after I counted that little extra was around £50 a month and it was something I could go without! So yeah  I could off put that money into something more useful. I am not saying not to treat ourselves I am just saying even if it cost £1 it all adds up in the end! Writing down expenses is always good so you know how much you could save in the end of the month (maybe for your dream holiday) of course if you stick with your budget.

Goal

Having a clear vision where you want to be in a future always helps! So have a goal what you are saving for: holiday, house, car, wedding ring:) what ever you save for having clear vision will help you to get where you want! At the moment I am going to start saving for a summer holiday:) Can't wait for that!

Jars

To stop me from spending and lighten my purse every time I have change I would put in the jar. And surprisingly it's possible to save like this! On the days in need or then we are short cash for take away jar would come in handy! And when it's full we would count all 1p and 2p and take it to the bank and to my surprise it was £9 there last time! So it's always handy to have a jar especially to pop out to get bar of chocolate in the evening when I am desperate for something sweet!

And most important thing is be happy and appreciate what you have rather than worrying what you don't have!

OK. So I think I am done here for today I hope it was somewhat helpful or at least encouraging to start being saver rather than big spender :) Let me know
what your thoughts are on this post! And thank you for reading!

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xxx

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