The crucial step in improving your finance is to examine your attitudes toward money. The question is, how can I increase my income and reduce my expenditure? If this is answered, you will be able to take a long and hard look at your budget and see if there are any ways you could improve your finance with very little effort. You need to improve self-awareness, recognize what you have achieved so far and where you are now, recognise what problems could occur to prevent you achieving your goals.

Imagine a family; Mr. and Mrs. Henry having five children; Brice, Kevin, Laura, Junior and Thierry. Mr. Henry is 48 years old and has just been fired from his job and has received a redundancy payment of $1300. Mrs.Henry works part time in a bakery. Kevin and Laura are hoping to enter university nextyear, Brice and Thierry are in a professional school while Junior just started school. Mr. and Mrs. Henry pay $60 each month for their house rent. This family is now facing some financial difficulties; their income has suddenly decreased. There are many ways you could increase your income and reduce your expenditure, some of which include:

1.      Fine new income channels

One salary is good, but three to four salaries is better. We need to work to establish multiple income channels, so that, the loss of one won't make us upset. This can be done by; selling things you no longer need, get paid for your time online, get paid to take surveys, earn money from hobbies, get a holiday job etc…

2.      Do more yourself

This means, when you need something done, embark on it yourself. This is a great way to achieve skills, instead of bills. You can learn how to cook from scratch, make your own beauty products, make your soap, candle, cleaners, baked goods etc…

3.      Plan for the unexpected

You should not let anything or anyone knock you off your own game. Figure out the steps you need to go through to protect your finances then take them.

4.      Conserve your resources

This is by using less and in return spend less. Simple arithmetic. Spend less on energy, utilities, appliances, and cleaning supplies.

 5.      Ensure you are claiming all the benefits you are entitled to

Many people are in debt because they don’t claim the benefits that are theirs. There are many different benefits people may be eligible for depending on their circumstances. For example, those with dependent children and a low family income, single mothers allowance, anyone with an illness or disability. You need to apply for them as long as you are entitled to.  Budgetary cutbacks have limited the value of many benefits but they are still available in most cases.

6.      Increasing your wage /salary

Increasing your wage/salary is perhaps one of the obvious ways of improving your finances. It is so obvious that sometimes it is forgotten. You need to be paid the national minimum wage, ask for a pay rise, work overtime if it available.

 7.      Protect yourself

The possible risks you may fall into include: job lose through redundancy or through ill health, have a baby, death, theft/vandalism, car written off in accident, house fire and so on. You can protect yourself  by having savings, investments and insurance. Knowing you have this type of protection in place, this will give you a peace of mind for the future. However, for more detailed information concerning your protection, you can contact an independent financial advisor or investment specialist.

8.      Mind your time

As we will always say, time is more valuable than money. Check on your calendar to see how you've been spending your time over the past few weeks. Write down the first five things you wish you had more time for, and the first five you wish you spent less time doing. Move your time priorities wherever you can, and nail these two lists to your work area so you don't forget what really matters.

9.      Set up a $1 cup

From now on, stop spending $1 bills. Instead, store all your $1 bills you receive as change, and let them multiply. Then after a few months or a year, you could easily have hundreds of extra cash. For now, pull out a cup or any other container in your house, put it on the counter, paste a picture of your dream goal on it (house, car, dress), and start saving.

10.  Set short-, mid-, and long-term goals

Knowing where you are now, you now need to decide what you want to achieve in the future. You may break your requirements down in to short term, medium term and long term needs. Short-term goals are priorities you will like to accomplish within a maximum of two years, Mid-term goals are priorities that will be accomplished within two to five years while long-term financial goals are priorities that may take up to five or more years to accomplish.

I believe you got some tips of getting free and staying free of debt.You now have the key skills, knowledge and attitudes required to ensure you take control of your financial situation and more importantly remain in control for the future.