Here is to beating the January blues

The festive season may have passed by just as quickly as it came for some people and with the new year, comes new-found stress to save a penny or two.

Whether you are worried about the children’s school payments and essential needs or simply cash strapped, pending the inevitable beginning of the annual payments, we have a few tips to help you beat the January financial crunch.

The festive season comes with tremendous pressure to splurge and losing sight of your budget can easily fly out the window.

Sugendhree Reddy, head of personal banking at Standard Bank, notes that the minute people see a large balance during the Christmas season, they only focus of spending it instead of saving for the first month of the new year.

“What we tell our customers is that if you do your financial planning from January, you will not succumb to the pressures of overspending during the festive season. At work, there are people that work out the financial budget, so why is it that at home we do not apply the same concept?”

Reddy insists that the first thing that everyone needs to do at the beginning of January is pay off all debt. This gives you breathing room to plan for upcoming expenses with money you can actually spend.

Granted, budgeting is not anyone’s cup of tea but it needs to be done in every household. “Appoint someone in the home that is responsible and can handle the household finances. This helps you plan for the future and for the children’s education. It helps you analyse your assets and your income,” concludes Reddy.

Debt in the new year can give the majority of people sleepless nights but with the proper budgeting and planning ahead, you can beat the new year blues and come out on the other side unscathed.