5 Things You Can Do Today to Improve Your Finances

You've got about ten minutes before someone needs you again. Could you do one useful thing for your money in that time? Here are five things you can do today to improve your finances, and each one takes about ten minutes with your phone in your hand.

They're small on purpose, so you can do one tonight and another one tomorrow, with only your phone and a pen. And if you only get to the first one, you'll still know more about your money than you did this morning!

Why improving your finances feels so hard to start

A lot of money advice starts with a full budget: every bill, every account and every dollar you spent last month. That's a whole evening of work, and it needs a clear head and nobody calling out for you. How many evenings like that do you get in a week?

So the big job gets put off, and the not-knowing sits in the back of your mind. I think the not-knowing is often harder to live with than the numbers. Each of the five things below takes about ten minutes. I picked them because each one leaves you knowing one more thing about your money.

1. Look at your balance and write it down

Open your banking app and look at the balance in your everyday account. Then write the number down with today's date beside it. I'd use the notes app on your phone or a scrap of paper (the back of a receipt works too).

Why write it down when the app already shows it? A number you've written yourself is easier to remember, and next time you look, you'll have something to compare it with. If your stomach drops when the app opens, that's ok and very common, and it usually eases the more often you look.

2. Write down the bills due before your next payday

Stay in the banking app and scroll back through last month's payments. Which bills will come out again before your next payday? Write each one under your balance, with the amount and the date it comes out.

Say your balance is $600, and the phone bill, the car insurance and the electricity come to $250 between them.

I think the $350 is the most useful number on your list, because it's what's really there to spend until payday. If the bills add up to more than your balance, you've found out today, before a payment bounces. Today there's still time to call the company and ask whether they can move the date.

3. Find one subscription you forgot about

Subscriptions are easy to forget, because nothing reminds you before they come out. Your phone keeps a list of the ones you pay through its app store. On an iPhone, open Settings, tap your name at the top, then tap Subscriptions. On an Android phone, open the Google Play Store, tap your profile picture, then tap Payments and subscriptions.

Have a scroll through the list. You might be surprised what's in there! Then look back through last month's payments in your banking app. Is anything else coming out every month, like a meal kit, a magazine or a free trial that turned into a paid one?

Is there a subscription you'd forgotten you were paying for? If you find one, cancel it while it's in front of you, and write down what it cost. You'll keep that amount next month.

4. Take your saved card out of one shop

Think of the shop you buy from most when you're tired, the one where you can buy something in two taps. Open your account on that website or app, find your saved payment details, and remove your card.

In the minute it takes to find your wallet, you get to ask yourself whether you really want the thing in your cart. I like this step because it takes less willpower at 10pm. If late-night buying happens a lot for you, I wrote more about how to stop impulse spending.

5. Move $10 into a "just in case" spot

Open your banking app one more time and move $10 into a savings account. If your bank lets you make a separate space inside your account, that works too. Give it a name you'll recognise, like "just in case".

Does $10 sound too small to bother with? It's small so you won't miss it this week. Then the next time a small surprise turns up, like a field trip payment or a prescription, you'll have $10 set aside for it. That way the surprise doesn't have to come out of the grocery money.

If you'd like to grow it from there, here's how to build a small emergency fund one small step at a time.

The five things you can do today, in one list

1. Look at your balanceWrite the number down with today's date beside it.
2. Write down the bills due before paydayPut each amount and its date under your balance, then take the bills away from the balance.
3. Find one forgotten subscriptionCheck your phone's subscription list and last month's payments, and cancel one you don't use.
4. Take your saved card out of one shopPick the shop you buy from most when you're tired.
5. Move $10 into "just in case"Put it in a savings account or a separate space with its own name.

If five feels like a lot for one day, I'd start with the first two. The other three are easier once you know your balance and what's due. When you'd like to come back to your balance and bills each month, a 15-minute monthly money date is a lovely way to do it.

Beth x

This is general education, not legal, tax or financial advice.