by Simon Wright

Created on: December 02, 2008

Often we get caught up in the now and neglect to think ahead to our future financial requirements. However, those of us who are prepared to invest time and effort into long-term financial planning will be better equipped to ride out any rocky financial waters and better placed to realise their dreams. A vital cornerstone of financial planning is learning to save money and, in this article, I'll outline seven tips that can help you to make the most of your money.

1. Get into the habit of monitoring your finances:

How often do you really analyse how much money you're spending and what you're spending it on? For many of us, the answer is rarely. Maybe we check our balance at the cash machine to make sure that we're not going to go overdrawn but, for many people, that is the extent of any monitoring that we do. It is very difficult, however, to make meaningful strides towards saving money if you're not aware of how much money is in your account and what your regular outgoings are compared to the income coming in.

The easiest way to monitor your spending is to look at your bank statements and, with the advent of Internet banking, you can now call up your last three months transactions at the click of a mouse. Going through your bank statement line by line might initially seem a little laborious, however it can bring very big rewards. You will likely be amazed at how much you are spending on certain things and it should help you identify spending categories that you can target reductions in.

2. Budgeting set yourself monthly targets:

Having analysed your spending patterns, the next stage is to target some cost savings. We'll get on shortly to some of the main expenses that can be targeted but let's first cover off how budgeting works and the importance of it.

Budgeting is the mechanism to ensure that you adhere to that old adage of living within your means. A starting point for any budget is to know how much income you have coming into your bank account each month. You should then set yourself a target of how much you are going to spend. Hopefully, your target will be less than the income coming in and this will mean that you will have some disposable income left over that you can place into a savings account or invest.

Often, in budgeting, it is useful to split your spending into various spend categories. Some examples might include groceries, gas and electricity, entertainment, etc. Having done this, you may then set yourself targets for each of these categories. Doing

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