Managing Your Money

You may be feeling the impact of the 'Cost of Living Crisis' and find that, the amount of money left over, after paying for life's essentials, is decreasing.

There are of course other factors that can contribute to financial difficulties such as illness, relationship breakdown, an unexpected expense such as a fire, death, robbery etc. Unnecessary financial stress and debt can be avoided by learning how to manage your money more effectively.

Whatever your circumstances are, we hope that by encouraging you to look at your finances honestly, it will help you to see where your money is going and start you on the first steps of budgeting.

To change our view of and relationship with money, budgeting is the key. A budget is a plan for the money you expect to receive and how you expect to spend it.

A budget will show you:

• How much money is coming into your household?
• How much money is going out?
• How much money you can afford to repay a loan.
• How you can best plan your spending in the future.

Our top tips for managing your money are:

Track

Keep track of your spending. Keep your receipts or take note of what you spend your money on. It will help you understand where your money is going and it might just be an eye-opener.

Budget

Estimate your income and expenditure for a set period and budget accordingly. But be realistic and don't underestimate!

Save

Get into the habit of saving regularly.

Be Prudent

Shop around to get the best deals and look at cost comparison websites.

Borrowing

If you have to take out a loan, borrow only what you can comfortably afford to repay. Match the repayment term to the purpose of the loan i.e. don't make the mistake of paying off a Christmas Loan over a number of years. Best advice is to try to stay away from credit cards and not to use Money-Lenders.

How to Get Started

Successful budgeting requires you to take the time to examine your finances and determine your income and outgoings.

We all have times when our money runs out before the month does. Regardless of your income; it is to the benefit of each of us to create a workable budget. This makes it easier to stick to!

Be realistic when assessing your income and expenditure and also when setting your financial goals.

Setting financial goals help you to make ends meet, cope with any emergencies and plan for the future.

Tips to help you:

Start your budget by simply writing down what you spend on a daily basis.

Ideally, you should do this over the period of a month. Remember, your budget is your personal tool and you can choose how much detail you want to include.

When starting out, you may find it helpful to put your spending into categories, such as household or utilities, rather than keeping tabs on individual expenses such as food, shampoo, gas or electricity etc.

Some people find it helpful to work with two groups of expenses:

• Essentials; bills you must pay to keep your household and family running, such as Utilities (Gas, Electricity), Groceries, etc.
• Non-Essentials; Entertainment, Holidays, Gifts, etc.

There are no rigid rules for creating a budget, the important thing is to make it flexible and realistic. Remember Rome wasn’t built in a day, you can amend it as you go along to suit your circumstances. Best of luck!

Managing Unexpected Expenses

It is inevitable that you will encounter unexpected expenses. At some time in all of our lives, things and events will crop up that we just didn’t see coming, whether it be something small such as a window breaking or something much larger such as a car accident or the passing of a loved one.

Some people worry that an unexpected bill will derail their budget. The best way to prevent this is to plan for it.

Try to save enough to give yourself a buffer in case of emergencies. It need not be anything too great if you cannot afford it. You would be surprised how quickly saving even €5 or €10 put away per week can build up if we do it consistently and stick with it.

Plant the acorns and watch them grow into a mighty oak.

What if I blow my budget?

Don’t lose heart, examine where you went wrong and try again.

If you have severely blown your budget, find yourself in financial turmoil, and can’t repay your debts the first thing to do is to remain calm.

It is important to contact the companies that you owe money to promptly and tell them you are having financial difficulties and want to discuss payment arrangements. This is particularly important if you’ve used your home, or other assets to secure the loan.

We offer many services aimed at improving access to financial services and encouraging financial inclusion.