Seven Top Tips To Help You Manage Your Money

We’ve looked at tips to bag your dream job, but once you have it, how do you stop all of your money from walking straight back out the door again? We’ve come up with some handy hints to help you make every cent count. __________________________________________________________ Bills, bills and more bills Sit back, take stock and prioritise. It’s time to get on top of those bills and while it might mean changing providers, the hassle will be worth it - we promise. Be sure to shop around for every service from electricity to car insurance, heating to internet. That few extra quid will go a long way coming into Christmas. Hit the ATM Now we’re not telling you to take all of your money out in one go, but once you have decided on a weekly budget take that amount out of your account. It’s very tempting to pay for everything with your debit card, but the fact that you never actually see the money leaving your account makes it easy to think you haven’t spent anything at all. Cold, physical cash will put a stop to that. Bargain buster There’s only one rule to stick to here and that’s to remember that it’s NOT a bargain if you don’t actually need it. Shops like to tempt us with ‘buy one get one free’ offers and ‘three for the price of two’, but would you actually have bought that item on its own in the first place? If the answer is no, put it back on the shelf and retreat. This goes for the sale in your favourite clothes shop too – sorry ladies. Put some away While it may be hard to juggle all of your bills and outgoings, putting a few euro aside each week or month for that famous ‘rainy day’ really is a good idea. Even if you just put a fiver aside, it’s better than nothing. Avoid the temptation It’s near the end of the month, pay day seems a lifetime away and yet you’ve just seen the most gorgeous shoes/dress/bag ever. Do not and we repeat NOT take out the credit card. Get into the mind frame of only using your credit card for emergencies – after that, it should not exist to you. Don’t forget the taxman Don’t forget that you are entitled to different reliefs each year and may in fact be entitled to claiming money back from Revenue. Check out their site here and if you’re renting, don’t forget that you’re allowed to get some relief on that too. Bring your own  Something as easy as making your lunch and bringing it to work actually reaps big rewards down the line – the amount of money that can be saved on a daily basis simply by cutting out that trip to the shop/local café is incredible. On top of all that, as hard as it may be, see if you can cut out buying that cup of coffee every morning and instead, make your own.