Happy New Year! Can you believe it’s 2020?! I’m a sucker for resolutions, although I do believe we should be trying to better ourselves all year, too. I just think a new year feels like a good time for a fresh start. That’s why I’m sharing with you 5 new year resolutions you should be making with your money, no matter who you are or what your financial situation is.
Learn to Say No
We often feel peer pressured into spending money we don’t have or spending on things we would rather not spend on. And it’s not because we have crappy friends. It’s because we don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or we are embarrassed to talk about finances.
Let’s make 2020 the year we learn to say no to things we don’t want to spend money on. Next time your friends asks you if you want to grab dinner and you’re feeling anxious about the cost, be honest. Tell that friend that you’re trying to save money and ask if he/she would want to come over and have dinner in, instead.
Saying no to more expensive plans doesn’t mean you can’t have a social life at all. A good friend will understand and even if they don’t rearrange plans to meet your financial needs EVERY time, you’ll grow more and more comfortable saying no to things that make you uncomfortable, so it’s great practice.
Pay Off Debt
This resolution does not mean that you need to have an entire loan paid off by the end of 2020, though if you CAN make that happy, that’s fantastic. I am encouraging you to make paying off debt a priority in 2020. Whether that means making an extra payment when you are underbudget for the month or paying more than the minimum every month or paying off small loans and working your way towards knocking off the big ones, prioritize paying off your debt this year.
Stop Comparing to Others
“Comparison is the thief of joy.” -Theodore Roosevelt
Thanks to social media, it’s almost impossible not to compare your life to that of other people, whether they be strangers, internet friends, real life friends or family. I’m guilty of comparison myself.
You log onto Instagram and see posts of fashion bloggers wearing beautiful outfits, internet strangers on vacation, your friend out to a fancy dinner, your distant cousin hanging out in with a renovated living room, etc. and it makes you a tad jealous or creates FOMO (fear of missing out). This feeling can often lead you to make poor financial decisions. I know I, sometimes, can’t help but think “well if they can afford to do that, why can’t I?” Or “those shoes look so good; I just NEED them.”
Focus on your own life and your own choices and your own happiness independently of what everyone else is doing, especially strangers on the internet. You never know who’s in debt to afford the Instagram lifestyle they flaunt and I, for one, would rather live a mediocre Instagram life and be debt free.
Save More
Save, save, save and then save some more! Whatever way you find it easiest to save, do that. For example, if you have been putting 5% into your 401(k) plan, put in 6%. If you’ve been saving $100 a month, save $110. If you haven’t been saving any money at all, start by saving as much as you can comfortably afford to, even if that means just $25 a month.
If you set aside $25 per month for 5 years, you’ll end up with $1,500. If you put that $25 a month into an online savings account at Synchrony Bank (current interest yield at time of posting is 1.8%), you’ll end up with approximately $1,597 after 5 years of saving and approximately $3,317 (versus $3,300) after 10 years. You will never look back later in life and wish you hadn’t saved money.
Cut Back on One Bad Habit
Make 2020 a better year by cutting back on one bad habit. I’m not talking about drugs or cigarettes here, though if you do cut back on these habits your health AND wallet will thank you. I’m referring to things like take out, coffee, shopping, Amazon, dining out, etc. Don’t get me wrong, you can and should spend on these things, but the key is to enjoy in moderation.
I’m guilty of overspending on Amazon. It’s just so easy to order that sometimes I end up purchasing things unnecessarily. For example, when my daughter was 4 months old, her baby monitor got low battery while I was watching TV downstairs. I had to plug the monitor in upstairs in my bedroom, causing me to stop watching TV because I didn’t want to not have the monitor with me. I then immediately went on Amazon and ordered a back up charger. In the two days I waited for the charger to come, however, I realized I could just charge the monitor between her naps, thereby eliminating the need for the second charger. Thankfully, Amazon has a great return policy, but the point is I realized my Amazon purchases were often unnecessary.
We all have at least one habit that costs us money that we could try to spend less on in the new year.
