How do you start the new year off right financially

USUALLY most of us feel some financial pain in January and those lucky enough to be earning breathe a significant sigh of relief when the January pay-day finally arrives and your overdrawn account ideally turns from red to black, or at least grey!

Traditionally this month of lean pickings for many thanks to a spend fest at Christmas and New Year is a sobering experience in more ways than one and it will prompt a moment or ten when we reflect on how we’re going to get our act together and manage our finances more prudently in the year ahead.

So, if you find yourself in that space, read on, as this writer has been there, done that and failed miserably to take his own advice the following Christmas, but nonetheless, there are some very wise crumbs of advice out there, which should go some way to getting you back on track and sorting out your finances.

Money gurus have varying ideas, to a point, but the central spine of any advice on getting the new year off to a better start than the last one, revolve around a few basic principles:

If you trawl the internet, you will get a few versions of the following pointers, some of the lists may vary in terms of importance, but the pointers are worth a look, and if you can, action some, of not all of them:

Pay with cash, retire the credit card for at least 60 days

Look at your tax credits, are you missing a trick here - is there a deduction you aren’t getting?

Create an emergency fund - easier said than done and make sure you agree what constitutes ‘an emergency’!

If you are in serious debt, contact an agency such as MABS, they are the experts and will give you good advice and direction

Create realistic goals in terms of what you should spend

Do not ignore bills that arrive at any time, particularly in January, deal with them and communicate with the firm/person to whom that bill needs to be paid

Look at what you are spending - most digital accounts will breakdown your spend month by month

Look at costs for various services, can you get a better deal somewhere else for power, TV, mobile phone, etc

Some of these pointers are easier done than others, but the best advice to everyone feeling the pinch this January is to confront the issues you face in terms of finances and build a plan - take action - to do nothing is the worst road to go down, some of the above at the very least will help.

Good luck!