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Money worries – do they ever just go away? The answer for most of us is, sadly, no. Whether it’s lingering in the background or weighing you down on a daily basis, it seems that we all have money on our minds to some extent. The thing is, it doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from or how much you’ve got – good money management is key to getting through life with your health and sanity intact. With that in mind, here are three golden rules that pretty much everyone should be following to stay in the black.

Don’t spend more than you earn

Rule number one is as simple as it sounds. Or is it? These days, it’s way too easy to spend all your earnings in a blaze of glory in week one of the month, oblivious to your dwindling bank account as you send through payment after payment on your card – contactless is not always your friend, let alone paying with your phone! Sure, you’ve got your overdraft, but you’ll have to pay it back someday and until you do, it’s costing you money. 

It seems easy to say – start off at the most basic level. What are you earning? That’s your budget for the month. Just don’t go past zero, then you can build on to the next step.

Save what you can, where you can

Late last year, the BBC reported that half of 22-29 year olds had no savings whatsoever to their name. It sounds scary, doesn’t it, but, unfortunately, it isn’t surprising. Rising costs of living against stagnating wages mean plenty of twentysomethings are living payday to payday. At the same time, however, some don’t have as tight a reign on their money as they could do.

It can start small, say cutting down on the morning Starbucks and those spontaneous Amazon orders (of which I am incredibly guilty for) then you should find you can pop those funds into a saving account each month. It doesn’t matter if it’s 50p or £50, saving is a good habit to get into. Before long, if you can stick to it, you’ll find yourself with a handy little savings pot. That means you can start planning for the future, as well as covering your back in case of financial emergencies, which always seem to happen when you are at the lowest of funds.

Avoid the pitfalls of credit cards and bad debts

If you’re sat there without a credit card in your bag or wallet; that’s no bad thing. However, when managed correctly, credit cards can offer a host of benefits, including building your credit score, allowing you to manage your cash flow, even offering rewards with your purchases. However, it’s one of those things you need to be disciplined about. Going back to the “only spend what you earn” mantra, credit cards can make it really tempting to spend that little bit more than you actually have.

Needless to say, your credit limit and monthly earnings might not match, meaning it’s easy for you to lose track of what you should be spending against where you actually stand with your bank balance. Just a few little spending splurges can mean you’re paying the interest on your bill each month and struggling to clear the balance.

You will want a credit card at some point, but you need to be getting one for the right reasons. If you aren’t too good at controlling your spending, or just want one because it means you could buy things you otherwise couldn’t afford; stay away until you can trust yourself to be a little more boring with your money. However, if you want to build your credit score or want the protection a credit card can give with purchases (for example, if you don’t get what you paid for) then a well-researched credit card could be just the ticket.

So, spend only what you have in your pocket, save what you can and stay away from the dastardly credit cards until you know you can pay it back every month. Three fairly simple rules to follow, but these things are always tougher to carry out than talk about.

The good news is it’s easier than ever to stay in control of your finances. Mobile banking, automation and synchronisation of accounts and apps that offer a detailed breakdown of your monthly expenditure mean putting these ideas into practice is not only easy to do but something you can start with right now.

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