Money certainly isn’t everything in life, but it is important. If you’re not careful with your money and find yourself in a difficult financial situation, it can cause unnecessary stress and stop you from doing the things that you want to do.

To make sure that you’re doing everything you can to stay on top of your finances and stop them from being a worry, take a look at this quick list of five tips to help you stay financially afloat and comfortable.

Plan Ahead

Spend most of your days living from paycheck to paycheck, spending lavishly at the start of the month and then living on rations on the days before payday? Try to plan out your month in advance, accounting for things like regular outgoings (electricity, phone bill etc.) and also any events or big payments that you plan on going ahead within the coming weeks. This way, it won’t be a massive surprise if you have amounts going out that you weren’t prepared for.

Be aware of your spending

Further than preparing and being aware of outgoing bills and payments, another noteworthy tip is being better aware of your spending in general and having an eye on your bank balance at all times. Often, we turn a blind eye to what we’re spending on a night out or while shopping, for example, being mortified a few days later when we look at our account balance, and with the amount of helpful online banking apps available nowadays, there’s no excuse. You can even set them up to give you notifications on your smartphone when you send/receive money, or lock your money away in different pots temporarily so that you can only access it at certain times.

Tip – If you want to get more into these different savings apps and learn how they work, The Big Investment blog has a good piece on some of the best different ones to try out. This is from savings apps and games, to even investment apps and more.

Save your money

Building up a decent amount of savings will help you to establish a rainy day fund, so that if any emergency payments or needs arise, you aren’t left with nothing. This will give you peace of mind when spending, and making it easier for you to do what you want, when you want, without the fear of running out of cash.

Tip – If you’re struggling to cobble together enough money to be able to save, again you should try planning it out in advance, and saving at the start of the month rather than with what you’ve got left. You don’t need to save a massive amount, and you can always withdraw it back out of your savings if you need it desperately. This isn’t ideal, of course!

Invest for the future

When you are able, it’s always worth thinking about some of the different ways that you can build up your financial portfolio, and look towards your long-term future rather than just the next month or two. Putting some money into a long-term investment strategy will allow you to bolster your finances in the long term. Property investment, for example, according to RWinvest, is among the best investment methods for the long term, as not only is it a lot more secure and stable than a typical investment strategy as prices don’t fluctuate as dramatically, but with a buy-to-let property, you can start seeing the returns from your purchase right away through rental payments from tenants. This isn’t something available to you with most other investments, and so it’s great for those that want to start making money right away.

Sell unwanted stuff

As a final piece of advice, one quick way of making money, and organising your things in the process, is to sell some of the stuff that you no longer need or use. Whether it’s old clothes that you don’t wear anymore but are still in perfectly fine condition or electronics that still function, but you have upgraded/moved on from, you could do yourself a favour by clearing space getting rid of this stuff and make a bit of spare cash in the process. With websites and apps such as eBay, Depop, and even Facebook’s Marketplace feature, it’s easier than ever – Simply take some pictures on your phone, and go from there.