The digital era has made life a whole lot easier. With the ability to schedule automatic online financial transactions without ever having to get out pen and paper, many have gained peace of mind knowing their bills will be automatically paid and savings added to.
Did you know that there are additional ways to organize your financial life with technology? Try these strategies for stepping up your digital money-management game:
Set up alerts. Both your bank and your credit card accounts can be set up to provide you with automatic alerts for a variety of circumstances, such as low-balance alerts on your checking account, and purchase or close-to-limit alerts on your credit card accounts. These alerts will not only send up a flare when you’re about to be overdrawn or over your limit, they will help you monitor your spending habits in order to make improvements.
Automate savings. Make sure your savings are always a priority by setting up automatic transfers. Create different savings accounts for specific goals, such as a down payment on a home or a vacation. Look into having contributions to health savings or retirement funds drawn directly from your paycheck. You can also have funds sent directly to an education account.
Let apps help. There are several apps that can help you track how you spend your money and help you save. The experts at Marketwatch recommend services like Trim, Truebill and BillShark, which analyze your financial accounts and perform involved tasks like negotiating your monthly bills and canceling or optimizing monthly subscriptions you may have forgotten about.
Don’t miss out on discounts. Apps like Honey and WikiBuy may help you save money by automatically applying applicable coupon codes when you make online purchases, reports Marketwatch. If the app finds a code for what you’re buying, it’s an automatic win. If not, there is no fee for the service. In short. there’s nothing to lose.
Automate grocery delivery. From Amazon to InstaCart, doing your shopping online saves you time that you could put to better use—especially if you charge an hourly fee for your services—and helps cut back on impulse and unnecessary purchases by organizing your lists online. Arranging for recurring deliveries will cut back on quick trips to the store that often result in extraneous purchases.
