Keeping track of all your money these days can be a big headache. On average, an individual might hold 15 different financial accounts, according to financial technology company Personal Capital.

Although many new products and services have sprouted up over the years promising to simplify the process, getting started can be daunting. The good news is that financial experts have provided much advice and most of them can be found on the internet.

To save you the time you will spend to search for these tips online, we are going to discus some of thee useful tips in this article.

• How to Stay on Track of your Finances
• How can you Improve Your Financial Situation?
• What to Avoid if you are Struggling Financially?

How to Stay on Track of your Finances

Below are nine effective and easy ways to accurately keep track of your finances.

1. Your Bank’s Online Banking Service

Almost every bank and credit union offers online banking to help you keep track of your transactions and balances. More sophisticated banks will offer budgeting, alerting, and mapping tools to help you understand where you money is coming from and how you’re spending it.

Read Also: How to Accelerate the Achievement of Your Financial and Professional Goals

Using these money management tools can be a great place to start for most people. While some banks will allow you to pull in data from other financial institutions, these management tools are most effective if you hold all of your bank, loan and investment accounts at a single bank instead.

Bottom line, you’re getting your financial data straight from the source, parsed and analyzed for your use.

2. Over-the-top Banking Services

Over the past few years, over-the-top banking services, like Simple, have sprung up on the banking scene. They offer very sophisticated transaction tracking, budging and spending management tools. You get a bank account, a debit card, a web dashboard and a mobile app at your disposal. Think of it as an Internet bank on steroids. They oftentimes have lower fees, 24-hour customer service and other benefits.

The downside is that you have to shift away from using a traditional bank and all of the benefits they offer, such as physical presence, cash transaction handling and local employees.

And although your money is FDIC insured, these types of companies don’t actually hold a bank charter. Instead, they have a silent partner bank that holds your money and takes care of the back-end operational requirements.

3. Prepaid Card (Banking) Services

There are tens of millions of Americans who cannot or choose not to hold a bank account, unflatteringly referred to as the unbanked or underbanked. If you’re one of them, the service prepaid card services offer can sound enticing: low fees, easy reload convenience, money management tools (sometimes) and a plastic debit card you can use to shop in-store and online with.

However, these services are not a true replacement for a regular bank account. And if you’re not careful, those fees can quickly add up.

The one saving grace to prepaid cards and the banking services attached to them is the idea that you can never truly overspend. You can only spend as much money as you decide to load on there.

4. Online Financial Management Tools

There are dozens of financial management tools online that promise to simplify tracking your finances. The 800-pound gorilla on the web is Mint, although there are others out there. And not to mention a number of services that focus on certain aspects of personal finance, like bill pay and investment management.

Most of these tools are very effective in helping you manage your finances and charge you absolutely nothing to do so.

However, there’s a caveat. The data you provide could be used to market products back to you. For example, if you carry a high cash balance in your checking account, the service may recommend that you open a savings account with a “trusted partner,” from which they are earning a referral fee from. Additionally, some services may sell your data to marketers outright.

5. Financial Management Software

There’s really only one piece of desktop-based financial management software left on the market that’s worth considering: Quicken. This product, made by Intuit, has been available for many years. But it was created for an era where online banking didn’t exist.

Their tools to analyze your spending, savings and balances are robust. But you only get out what you put in. And putting data in can be a big hassle. In fact, some banks charge you a fee to directly connect Quicken to their back-end servers.

6. Spreadsheets and Templates

If you’re a numbers person, using a spreadsheet through Excel or Google Spreadsheets can be a brute-force way to track your money. You’re solely responsible for inputting data, updating numbers, tracking changes and other tasks. There’s little to no automation here, except when you download pre-made Excel templates with embedded macros.

7. Pen & Paper

Another brute-force way to track your money is by writing down your transactions and balances. Nothing says old school like punching away at a 10-key calculator and writing down your spending and earnings in a notebook.

8. Checkbook Register

Going old school with a checkbook register doesn’t mean you’re actually old. There’s a reason many generations of Americans relied on keeping track of debits and credits using this method: because it works.

Just search online for ways to balance a checkbook for an idea of how this works. Basically, physically having to reconcile your transactions on a monthly basis is a great way to keep tabs on your finances.

9. Personal Budget

Nothing shows that you grasp the basic principles of financial management better than creating your own personal budget. A simple Google search will show you the basic instructions on getting started with one.

This method is great if you want to identify and control your spending. But not so great if you’re looking for an all-in-one method of tracking your loans, credit cards and investment accounts. It’s basically one tool in your overall financial toolbox.

No matter which method you choose, it’s important to consider how much time you’re willing to spend to get started and to maintain the tracking system. After all, being successful in keeping tabs on your finances depends on your level of commitment.

How can you Improve Your Financial Situation?

If you find yourself in a lot of debt or are barely making ends meet, you may be wondering how to turn your finances around. Depending on the seriousness of your financial situation, it may take some time to get back on track. But don’t get discouraged—you can improve your financial situation if you take several small steps.

Assess Your Current Finances

Before you determine an end goal for your finances, honestly evaluate where you are now. This activity will help you see what, if anything, you need to change and create a plan that will move you toward your final destination.

A good approach for gauging where you are financially is calculating your net worth, which amounts to your assets less your liabilities.

Write down or use a spreadsheet to record all your assets, including bank accounts, stocks, mutual funds, retirement account assets, and real estate, but not your home or car unless you plan to sell them. Likewise, list your liabilities, including credit card debt and other loans, but not your mortgage unless you included your home as an asset.

Subtract your liabilities from your assets to figure your net worth. Hopefully, it’s positive. If you find that it’s not what you expected, don’t despair; let the information serve as a wake-up call that you need to make lasting changes to turn around your financial situation.

Set Financial Goals

Once you have established your current financial situation, the next step is to determine where you want to be. It’s important to establish clear goals so that you know exactly what you are working toward and what you need to do to get there.

If, like many Americans, you have zero or even a negative net worth, meaning your liabilities meet or exceed your assets, you might set a goal to get completely out of debt or spend less.

If you determined that your net worth is positive but lower than expected to fulfill your life goals, think of ways to increase it—for example, save more, become an investor or homeowner, or start your own business. If you’ve started your career, you might even set a target to retire early.

Whatever the goal, once you have it in mind, begin working backward to find out what you need to change or do in order to reach that goal. It’s useful to write the goal down or find a picture that represents it and hang it on a wall in your office or bedroom on put it somewhere else where you can see it on a regular basis and draw inspiration from it.

Set up a Budget

You can’t identify unhealthy financial patterns until you put in place a budget, which is a plan for how to spend your money each month that factors in how much you earn and spend.

Start by listing your income and expenses. Look at your spending over the last few months or even in the same month last year to get an indication of what you usually spend in each category.

Then, subtract your expenses from your income. If the amount is zero or negative, aim to cut back on expenses or increase your rate of savings. Some common areas where many people can spend less are food and entertainment.

If the amount is positive, put together a budget for spending each month. For example, with the zero-based budget, every dollar has a purpose, and there should be no more money left to budget by the month’s end. Or, use the envelope system, divvying up cash between different envelopes that you will use to pay for different expenses.

Once you have a budgeting system, use financial software, a spreadsheet, or pen and paper to stick to it. In order for the rest of the steps to work, and improve your financial situation, you need to get your budget to work for you. It may take a few months of tweaking, but it is the key to financial success.

Tackle Debt

If you want to free up your budget and improve your financial situation, you must get out of debt. Regardless of how much you have or how manageable it is, pay it off as quickly as possible; the longer you stretch out the loan term, the more you will likely pay in interest and total loan costs. For example, you are likely paying more in interest on credit card debt than you are earning on any investments you may hold.

First, you need to create a debt repayment plan. If you have a lot of high-interest debt, list your debts in order from highest interest rate to lowest, and then begin paying all of the extra money toward the first debt. Once you have paid off that debt, move onto the next debt on the list.

If you have an unmanageable number of debts, however, you may want to pay down the one with the smallest balance first and then proceed to pay down those with increasingly larger balances.

If any of your debts are in collections, you may choose to pay them off first and bring them current to stem the negative impact to your credit and reduce the number of calls you get from creditors.

In order for any debt repayment plan to work, you need to make a commitment to stop using your credit cards and stop acquiring new credit.

Control Your Spending

This step can help you modify the spending behaviors that got you into debt, stick to your budget, and find additional money to apply to your existing debt. To start, review your expenses and identify budget leaks, which are hidden problems in your spending. Once you have done this, devise strategies to address the issues.

For example, you may find out that you eat out too often, which can add up quickly, especially if you have a family. Find ways to cook ahead so that dinner is ready with very little meal prep; this will help you plug the budget leak and save money.

If you shop too much at certain stores, or use your credit card too much in general, leave your credit card at home and only take cash or a debit card with you when you go out to avoid overspending.

Similarly, take a look at your bills to identify services you aren’t using and cut them from your budgets, such as a gym membership or a seldom-used streaming subscription. As you focus on saving money, you may be surprised by just how much you can sock away for the future.

Address Income Issues

No matter what your income is, you may find yourself in a financial situation where you barely break even or spend more than you earn. If you do, you may have cash flow issues. It may be a temporary issue, such as the need to defer a purchase every now and then. Or, you may be so burdened by debt payments that you are regularly unable to cover day-to-day expenses like groceries or utilities.

Once you have your budget in front of you, identify whether you have an income issue. If it is temporary, you may able to solve the problem with the help of a second job or an income-producing investment that supplements your primary income.

If you have persistent cash flow problems, however, you may need to take more drastic measures to turn your financial situation around, such as paying down your debt faster to reduce long-term costs, moving to an area with a lower cost of living, or going back to school to qualify for a higher-paying job.

Plan for the Unexpected

You can prevent financial worry by planning for unexpected life situations. First, ensure that you have the proper insurance. This includes health, renter’s/home, car, and life insurance. Insurance may seem costly and unnecessary when you are struggling to make ends meet, but a car accident and any related medical bills can set you back by thousands, damaging your finances far more.

Insurance protects you from the worst when something awful happens and can give you the financial resources you need to get through those moments without breaking the bank.

Additionally, build a financial cushion with an emergency fund, which is a pool of money you draw from to pay for unplanned expenses. Saving between three to six months of living expenses can help you in the event that you lose your job or have a major emergency.

Start Saving

Curbing spending on non-essential items may keep you from going further into debt, but you can’t fundamentally alter your financial situation if you don’t also find ways to save money every day and allocate money for upcoming expenses.

Paying less for the things you need is one way to create room in your budget for the goals you earlier established. Buying in bulk, shopping secondhand, or using coupons can help you save on a daily basis.

To save for a future expense, be it a down payment on a home, a car, or your child’s college education, consider establishing a sinking fund. This type of fund works like an emergency fund but is used for planned instead of unplanned expenses. Take the time to figure out what you need to save, and then establish a sustainable schedule for saving (biweekly or monthly, for example) and stick to it to stay on top of your goals.

Create a Long-Term Financial Plan

As you save for upcoming expenses in the near term, don’t neglect to develop a long-term financial plan that will help you grow your wealth and keep moving forward. This should include investing and saving for retirement.

Experts generally recommend paying off credit card debt and other high-interest debt before you start investing. But once you are out of debt, you will likely be ready to invest. It helps to talk to a financial planner about your goals and situation and to receive advice about the best strategies for your long-term goals.

Stay Motivated

The more difficult your circumstances, the more time it will take to turn them around. Granted, this can be frustrating, as you may have to compromise your lifestyle for months or even years to get out of debt and start working toward your goals.

The key to being successful is to stay motivated throughout the process. Share your goals with friends or family to keep yourself accountable, break down your goals into smaller steps, and reward yourself when you hit major milestones. With patience and commitment, you can improve your financial situation and rest easier about your future.

What to Avoid if you are Struggling Financially?

No one likes being broke, and it’s stressful, uncomfortable, and counterproductive to achieving your financial goals. While there may be some things about your finances that are outside of your control, like whether your boss is willing to give you a raise, you can control some other things that can help you repair your financial state.

You can unknowingly prolong your financial lull by continuing to make poor financial decisions, such as spending money when you should instead be cutting back your spending.

You may try to justify certain purchases, rationalizing that you really need that dress or that life will be too uncomfortable without a daily cafe latte. More often than not, though, you’ll be just fine without those extra purchases. Check out this list of things you shouldn’t do when you’re broke.

Take out a loan for a new car, or for any other reason: If you’re broke, you can’t afford another monthly payment and that’s exactly what you’re adding to your plate when you take out a loan.

Go on an expensive vacation: You’re broke, you can’t afford a vacation. If you have money saved up for a vacation, there’s probably something more pressing you could spend that money on—like past due bills or car repairs, for example.

Loan money to someone else, or cosign for them: Having no money for yourself means you also don’t have money for anyone else. Cosigning is included here because cosigning a loan is essentially accepting the responsibility for the monthly payment if the other signer can’t make it.¹

Spend money on non-necessities: One of the hardest things to do, when you’re broke especially, is to rein in your spending and keep it only to the things you need. It’s important, however, to keep your spending to a minimum until you can afford to spend more.

Eat at restaurants: Buy groceries and prepare your meals at home. Take your lunch to work, even if it means having leftovers.

Have cable television: Many networks let you watch the shows online for free a day or two after the show airs. That’s a good way to stay up to date with your favorite shows without the extra cost.

Go clubbing with your friends: You simply can’t afford to do this if you’re broke—unless you’re not paying a cover and somehow getting free drinks. Find a less expensive form of entertainment and fun.

Pay more than the minimum on your credit cards: Normally, the advice would be to pay more than the minimum so you can pay off your card balances. However, if you’re struggling financially, you can cut back on payments, temporarily, so make the most of your money.

Move to a more expensive apartment: Keep your living expenses as low as possible. If your lease at your current residence is nearing its end, talk to your landlord about renewing it at the same rate (or a lower rate if you’ve been a good tenant.)

Ignore your bills and bank statements: Ignorance is not bliss in this case. While you have your head buried in the sand, a storm is brewing all around you and you can’t ignore it forever. Facing the reality of your situation is the only way to make the most of it and try to get out of it.

Overdraft your checking account: Letting your account balance become negative will make your financial situation worse. Not only will you face overdraft fees, when you finally deposit money into your checking account it will be eaten by the negative balance. Work hard to keep your balance in the positive.

Pay your bills late: Late fees add up and eat into the money you do have. If you become too delinquent, some services may be disconnected and you’ll have to pay the full balance due in addition to a reconnection fee. It’s easier, cheaper, and better for your credit score to just to stay current on the balance.

Pretend that you have more money than you do: If people think you have money, they’ll expect you to spend money. You don’t necessarily have to let people know the severity of your financial situation, but don’t pretend you have money to blow when you don’t (even to yourself).

Quit your job without having another one lined up: At least with another job in the queue, you won’t have a lapse in pay. Quitting without another job is risky.

Spend your spare time doing something unproductive: There are so many things you could do during your spare time to make more money—directly or indirectly. For example, you could get a part-time job, learn a money-making hobby, or study to improve your skills so you can demand more money.

Lie to your spouse about the money: It’s often said that money is one of the biggest causes of divorce. Keeping secrets about money will probably cause more harm than good.

Spend your savings or emergency fund on things that aren’t emergencies: If you have savings, make it last as long as possible. Be very conscious about what you’re withdrawing money for. Make sure it’s for necessary expenses and not luxuries.

Waste electricity or water: These are two utility services whose price you can control. Turn off lights you’re not using. Don’t let the water run. Use surge protectors and turn them off when you’re not using those products. Wash your clothes in cold water. Save as much money as you can on these expenses.

Take on new, recurring expenses: At this point, your financial situation is too uncertain to take on new responsibilities.

Drive places unnecessarily: Combine errands and minimize your driving time to save money on gas. You can also take public transportation, walk, carpool, or ride a bike to reduce the amount of money you spend on gas.

Go on expensive dates: There are plenty of ideas for cheap and free dates—like a movie from the library (yes, they have those!), popcorn, and $10 wine. You don’t have to break the bank every time you go out—and if you do, you should probably reconsider the person you’re dating.

Pay for subscription services: Subscription services are usually unnecessary extras. Cancel recurring expenses for things like satellite radio, credit monitoring, Netflix, Hulu, and shoe club. Yes, you’ll have to get used to life without your services but you will also save money.

Pay to get your car washed, your house cleaned, or your grass cut: Don’t pay someone else to do things you can do yourself. Paying someone may save a little time and work, but when you’re financially strapped, you just can’t afford to pay for these things. If you can barter for them, that’s a different story.

Rule out part-time work: Make some extra money if you can. Consider getting a part-time job in the evenings or weekends. If you manage it well, the extra money can help pull you out of your financial hole.

Buy expensive gifts (or any gift): If holidays, birthdays, or other occasions are coming up, consider your budget before you go shopping. Assess how much you can spend without completely disrupting your bank balance. If you can’t afford to buy anything, put some thought into a gift you can make.

Read Also: How you can Improve Your Future Financial Success

Make frequent hair, nail, or spa appointments: You can do your own nails and give yourself a facial for a fraction of the cost that you’d pay a professional. You may not necessarily be able to give yourself a haircut, but you can go a little longer between trims, e.g. a month or two instead of bi-weekly.

Grab a coffee from anywhere other than your kitchen or the break room at work: Your $4-cup-a-day habit has to go if you’re broke, since that’s more than $100 a month if you buy a cup every day. And if you buy more than one a day, you’re spending a lot of money. You could buy a single cup brewing system for about that much and save tons of money every month thereafter.

Buy new electronic devices: You barely have time to break in a device before there’s a newer one, more lightweight and with a better screen. Resist the temptation to keep up with the latest gadgets. The changes are usually so minor that you really don’t get a significant benefit by switching to a newer version.

Buy apps, games, or extras for the devices you already have: Ahem, candy crush addicts. It’s so easy to buy apps; you don’t even realize you’re spending money because it’s either added to your phone bill, charged to your credit card, or deducted from your bank account. Don’t try to minimize what you spend on apps, just don’t spend anything at all.

Buy cigarettes every day: The cheapest pack of cigarettes in the United States is a few cents less than $5. The most expensive is $12.85 a pack in New York as of 2020. Smoking a pack a day can cost anywhere from about $150 to $386 per month or $1,800 to $4,620 each year. That’s not a habit a broke person can afford.

Conclusion

Integrate as many of these tips as possible into your daily life and watch as, over time, your financial situation not only gets better, but they will help you stay on track of your finances