12 Amazing Money Tips and Tricks For Anyone Who Is Ready To Be A Better Adult This Month

I think you can agree that we ALL want to be better adults and better with money. So, these insanely practical money tips and tricks will help you improve your finances ASAP.

Money tips and tricks that are seriously useful for anyone who is ready to take control of their money.

Did you know that “more than half of Americans said the pandemic made them more aware of how they spend their money, and 41% of Americans are being more careful with their money now?” (According to a recent survey by The Balance).

I’m sure you are one of them. I think it’s safe to say that the pandemic has made you more aware of your money (and that’s a great thing!).

You are probably doing all the research you can to make sure are on the right track with your finances. Well, today I’m giving you the top money tips and tricks that my family and I swear by.

You are going to learn all about money management tips, money saving tips, and more.

After learning all these money tips and tricks, you are going to avoid most money mistakes and pitfalls (so you can avoid being a broke adult.)

This post is all about the best money tips and tricks you should know about.

Easy Money Tips And Tricks:

1. Take a look at your finances

Look at your past bank statements. Pay close attention to your spending. Notice any patterns? Any recurrent bills?

Well, categorize your bills into fixed expenses (bills that you pay every month like rent or mortgage, electricity, water, etc.)

Then, categorize bills into variable expenses. You know, those recurring expenses that you have every month that the amount changes. For example, food, eating out, gas, car maintenance, clothing, shopping money, personal care, hair, nails, etc.

Basically, separate your spending into 2 categories: fixed and variable. And know that you have more control over the variable spending categories because you ultimately decide how much you want to spend on each variable category. Whereas fixed expenses you have no control over the amount. In other words, you can’t decrease that fixed expense even if you wanted to.

2. List all your debts

This is the hardest thing to do, but if you want to become a better adult and improve your finances, you have to face your debt.

Stop hiding from it or agonizing over it or ignoring your debt. Just list them all down in a piece of paper. Don’t be so hard on yourself. Remember, if you want to keep more of your paycheck in your pocket, you first have to get rid of debt.

(I’ll show you a really bad picture of me listing all my debts.)

After you list all your debts, decide in what order you want to pay them off first. You can do the debt snowball method or the debt avalanche method. And you can mix them both. Either way, you have come up with a plan to get rid of debt as fast as you possible can!

{CHECK OUT: How To Use The Debt Snowball And Debt Avalanche Method To Destroy Your Debt}

3. Create a Budget

If you want to become a better adult this month and better at managing your money, you have to create a budget. I know you probably want to cringe when you hear the word budget because you’re thinking that is going to restrict you.

But, no! A budget is just a spending plan, in which you are in total control of. A budget allows you to decide what to do with your money and how to spend it.

A budget helps you organize your bills like rent, utilities, food, gas, eating out, etc. It also helps you see how much money you have leftover to save or to throw at debt.

Creating a budget will help you see where most of your paycheck is going. It will also help you realize what you can cut back on or spend more on.

(Here’s another bad picture of how a budget looks like).

Your budget doesn’t have to be perfect at all. And it may take several times for you to feel comfortable creating a budget. A single spread sheet like this one can help you organize your finances. I got this one from The Budget Mom, totally recommend!

And here’s a Step-By-Step Guide on How To Set Up A Budget.

3. Split your large bills

Once you start creating your budget, you’ll notice some recurring fixed expenses that are large like a mortgage or rent. You may not be able to afford to pay for that bill with just one paycheck. So, what I do, is that I split up the payment into two.

For example, my mortgage is $1,040 and my paycheck is like $1,200, so if I would pay my mortgage with my paycheck, I would be wiped out and would only have $160 leftover for the next two weeks.

So, what I do is that every time I get paid, I set aside half of my mortgage. As shown in the bad picture above, I fund half of it which comes out to $520. I let the money sit in my account until I collect the other half of it from the next paycheck.

Then, when my mortgage is due at the beginning of the month, I’m not scrambling for money, I just pay it. You can do the same with large fixed expenses and break them up.

4. Create Financial Goals

Sometimes you’re so overwhelmed with so many bills and credit card debt that you don’t feel you can actually get ahead of the game.

But, I’m here to tell you that YES you can! Getting your finances in order is just like eating an elephant and you eat it one bite at time.

So, create those small bite-size goals for you and your family. Like doing a No-Spend week this month. Or maybe it’s creating your first budget.

In other words, your financial goal can be as simple as putting 10% of your income in an emergency fund. Or could be that you are wanting to pay $50 extra towards your debt.

Whatever your goal is stick with it and reward yourself.

5. Create Sinking Funds

Think about future expenses that you’d like to purchase (such as saving for vacation, buying a car, or buying an anniversary gift) and budget for them!!

This is by far one of the best saving money tips you can do! So, create a sinking fund in your budget and start setting some money aside each time you get paid.

Get as specific as possible when you are creating your sinking funds. For example, you’ll want to know how much you’ll set aside each paycheck and for how long.

Oh, and FYI, in the very bad picture I uploaded, I showed you that I’m saving $100 each paycheck towards my Vacation sinking fund. (I budget for this category because is so important for me to go on vacation even though I’m still paying down debt. And you can definitely do the same)

{CHECK OUT: Sinking Funds That Will Make You More In Control Of Your Money}

More Money Management Tips

6. Start Building An Emergency Fund

One of the best money tips and tricks you can do for your finances is to start an Emergency Fund as soon as possible.

Even if you just have $30 leftover from your budget, start setting that money aside for anything unexpected.

An emergency fund can protect you from any unexpected major expense like a car accident. It will prevent your budget from derailing.

When you face an unexpected large expense, you don’t want to go back into debt or wipe out all your savings. So, start and F-you money fund, today.

So, here’s what to do: Open up a separate savings account, preferably a high-yield savings account. So, you can earn a little bit of interest as you save up your emergency fund.

By separating your bank accounts, you won’t be as tempted to use the money it –(since it’ll be out of sight, out of mind). I have Ally and Marcus by Goldman Sacs. But you can check out the best online savings account that fits your needs.

Experts always say you should have a 3-6 month emergency fund. These saving money tips can seem impossible, but you gotta start somewhere –even if you can only spare $30 out of your budget each month.

7. Budgeting Tips: (Try a zero-based budget)

You gotta try these money hacks that make you feel like you got a raise. By listing all your income and giving every dollar a job, you can stretch out your budget and crush your financial goals even faster!

Oh, and FYI, it’s not that difficult.

{CHECK OUT: Here’s Exactly How To Do A Zero Based Budget This Week}

8. Create a Money Routine

Start a habit of looking at your checking account daily, especially before you make any purchase. That way, you won’t overdraft.

Just knowing how much money you have in your account will give you a quick glance on how much you can actually spend.

These money tips and tricks will help you stick to your budget. Because one thing is creating a budget and another one is following it.

{CHECK OUT: How To Stick To A Budget In 3 Easy Steps}

9. Keep a cushion in your checking account

Try to always keep a “checking account cushion.” (Which is basically an amount of money that sits in your checking account at all times and you aren’t allowed to spend it.)

For example, you can keep $100 in your checking account as your cushion between you and your budget.

This “checking account cushion” comes in handy if you overspend in any areas of your budget. You can rest assure that that your account will never hit zero because you always leave that reserve there.

This is a money saving tips because you can avoid being charged overdraft fess, which aren’t fun. And you can always up the checking account cushion to where you feel comfortable.

10. Do NOT cosign for anyone

How I wish I knew this early on, but I had to learn the hard way. So, please don’t repeat this mistake and cosign for your brother, sister, cousin, mother, father, dog, cat, haha…..you get the point.

11. Be willing to learn more about how to manage money

I don’t know about you, but I never learned any money hacks in school. In fact, I never learned any money tips and tricks from my parents either.

I was just kinda thrown into this adulting game. And I had to educate myself in personal finance after making HUGE money mistakes.

There’s always something you can learn about money management. I’m still learning and have become kinda obsessed after seeing how much these money tips and tricks have helped me and my family.

So, here’s how you can learn more about how to manage money (and it doesn’t have to cost you any money!):

Listen to podcasts on personal finance like the Dave Ramsey Show, The Rachel Cruze Show, ChooseFI, Bigger Pockets Money. They are amazing and will definitely pump you up!

Oh, and FYI, you can always go to your local library and rent books on personal finance for free. Right now, I’m reading Choose FI and the other one is Unspeakable from Tony Robbins. He teaches you how to invest in the Stock Market, definitely recommend his book.

Bottom line, you have to get out of your comfort zone and educate yourself about money. If not, no one else will. And you’ll end up like everyone else in the standard path, wondering where your money went.

12. Change Your Money Mindset

You have to have right mindset to become a better adult and be successful with money.

Try to embrace the abundance mindset and let go of the scarcity mindset.

According to Forbes: “A scarcity mentality is what keeps many of use from achieving our goals. An abundance mindset refers to the paradigm that there is plenty out there for everybody.”

So, quiet those annoying voices that make you feel like you can’t get ahead. Let go of those thoughts like “There’s no way I can do that,” or “that’s impossible for me.”

Instead adopt an abundance mindset; one that believes in possibilities. It’s just like the article in Forbes says, “An abundance mindset allows you to see more in your life: more options, more choices, and more resources.”

Remember, your mind is very powerful and adopting these money tips and tricks will help you achieve any goal you want in life.

Alright, that’s it for my money tips and tricks!!

This post was all about the best money tips and tricks, so you can be a better adult this month!

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