— New Year’s resolutions are a fantastic way to begin addressing your finances and start saving. Let’s make 2019 a year of financial stability, set solid goals and improve our quality of life together. —

 

 

We are all used to making New Year’s resolutions, no more junk food, quit smoking, exercise more – sometimes we keep them, sometimes we don’t – This year we want to help you make a resolution – and keep it – that will affect all aspects of your life in a positive way.

 

Good budgeting and financial restraint reach much further into our lives than just our wallet. It gives us a sense of security for the future, reduces anxiety, and develops logical and organized thinking.

 

Make sure you go into 2019 with the right mindset for financial freedom and peace of mind.

 

Split Up That Christmas Bonus

 

• Often we receive relatively large sums of money around Christmas time, from presents to bonuses, and gifts. We like to use the rule of thirds to split up these amounts and make sure we don’t splurge it all on eggnog in one night.

 

• The rule goes as follows, one-third goes to past debts, one-third goes to treating yourself in the present, and one-third goes into saving for the future. Just think of ‘A Christmas Carol’s’ three ghosts and you won’t have any trouble remembering.

 

Ditch The Credit Cards

 

• Credit cards are a recipe for disaster, they offer quick and easy purchases with no immediate negative impact on your finances. It’s easy to rack up hundreds of dollars of debt if you don’t keep an eye on those credit balances and find yourself spiraling out of control.

 

• We recommend keeping one hidden at the bottom of your darkest deepest sock drawer and using it only for real emergencies. Don’t spend what you don’t have! Carrying cash only will reduce impulse purchases and force you to budget your weekly walking-around money.

 

Stick To A Budget

 

• Budgeting doesn’t mean creating pages and pages of fancy bar graphs and charts. You can make a good start by writing down your monthly expected spendings on everyday items such as food and household supplies and working out an amount to save month-on-month.

 

• There are thousands of Apps available to help you budget and plan your savings, spend a night downloading them and finding out which ones suit your lifestyle. Even a small effort made towards planning future spending and savings will make you more mindful of your spending.

 

 

Put Together An Emergency Fund

 

• Surprise expenses always come at the worst times. Whether it’s a car repair, medical bills, or god forbid losing your job we want to be ready for these surprise spendings without it affecting our monthly budget.

 

• A good rule of thumb is to add up your monthly spendings – which we should have already put together in our budget – and multiply that number by three. This money will assure we can get through rough months without worrying about losing our basic conveniences.

 

Cook More, Takeout Less

 

• Takeouts may be yummy but those expenses add up fast. The average American eats an average of 4.2 commercially prepared meals per week, that’s a whopping 18.2 meals per month for a total average of $232/month!

 

• Cooking is a lifelong skill that is rewarding to learn and share with your loved ones. You can impress potential partners, treat your family, or just prepare wholesome comfort food for yourself when you’re feeling down. Save more and develop a skill that will prove it’’s worth time and time again.

 

Generate Some Side Income

 

• Developing extra income is a fantastic way to spend your spare time and boost your monthly earnings. Even an extra $100-$200 a month can go great lengths in helping pay rent, groceries or paying off past debts.

 

• Find a profitable skill that you can work on in your spare time – bonus points if it’s a creative skill – There’s nothing more rewarding than developing and mastering your own skills while also bolstering your financial situation.

 

 

Don’t Forget To Always Check Vipon

 

• As always there are hundreds of thousands of discount coupons available on Vipon.com, make sure to always check for any purchases here before buying them at full price.

 

• Saving even a little slowly adds up and you will quickly see the effects in your monthly budgets and savings.

 

New Year’s Resolutions can be hard to keep, but let’s keep these ones together and build a solid financial future for ourselves and our families.

 

We hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

 

Much Love,

The Vipon Team