7 simple ways to be better about money

Let’s be real: when it comes to money, it’s easy to feel like you’re failing. You work hard, your paycheck comes in, and before you know it, it’s almost gone. You see people on social media who seem to have it all figured out, and you’re left wondering, “What am I doing wrong?”

Well, I’m here to let you in on a little secret: being good with money isn’t about being a math whiz or getting some crazy high-paying job. It’s not about deprivation or pinching every penny until it screams. Most of it is about a handful of simple, fundamental habits. It’s about shifting your mindset from “Where did my money go?” to “Here’s where I’m telling my money to go.”

I’ve been in that stressed-out place, nervously checking my bank account before buying groceries. It’s not fun. But by slowly implementing the seven simple steps below, I turned my finances around, and you can, too. This isn’t a get-rich-quick scheme. It’s a get-your-life-less-stressed plan. Let’s dive in.

1. Get Mindful: The “Where Is It All Going?” Check-Up

Before you can make any plan, you need to know what you’re working with. You wouldn’t try to drive to a new place without looking at a map, right? The same goes for your money. The very first, and most powerful, step to being better with money is simply to track what you’re spending it on.

For most of us, it’s not the big rent check or the car payment that derails us. It’s the death by a thousand cuts—the daily coffee, the quick lunch out, the impulsive online shopping, the subscriptions you forgot you had. This is the “Latte Factor,” and it adds up to a shocking amount of money that just… vanishes.

How to Make it Simple:

• The One-Month Snapshot: You don’t have to do this forever. Just commit to one month. Get a small notebook, use the Notes app on your phone, or use a free app like Mint that links to your bank account.
• Record Everything: And I mean everything. Every time you spend money—whether it’s a $4 coffee or a $400 car payment—write it down. The simple act of writing it down makes you more conscious. You’ll start to think, “Do I really want to have to write down ‘junk food from the gas station’ again?”
• No Judgment, Just Facts: This isn’t about making yourself feel guilty. It’s a fact-finding mission. After the month is over, look at your spending. You will almost certainly be surprised. “I spent how much on food delivery?” or “I’m paying for three different streaming services I never use!” This awareness is your superpower. It’s the foundation for every other step that follows.

2. Give Your Money a Job: The “Spending Plan” (Not a Scary Budget)

The word “budget” feels restrictive, like a financial straitjacket. It sounds like you’re saying “no” to everything fun. Let’s reframe that. Instead of a budget, let’s create a “Spending Plan.”

A Spending Plan is just you telling your money where to go on purpose, before the month even begins. It’s you taking the data from your tracking and making conscious choices. The magic of a plan is that it gives you permission to spend. When you have $60 budgeted for “fun money,” you can spend that $60 guilt-free because you know your bills are already covered.

How to Make it Simple:

A fantastic and easy framework to start with is the 50/30/20 Rule. It breaks down your take-home pay (the money that actually lands in your bank account) into three simple buckets:

• 50% for Needs: These are your essentials, the things you must pay to live your life. This includes rent/mortgage, utilities (electric, water, gas), groceries, basic transportation (car payment, gas, bus pass), minimum debt payments, and basic insurance. If you couldn’t live without it, it’s a need.
• 30% for Wants: This is the fun bucket! This is for the things that make life enjoyable but aren’t strictly necessary. Dining out, movies, hobbies, new clothes (when you don’t need them), vacations, and your Netflix subscription all live here.
• 20% for Savings & Debt Paydown: This is the bucket that builds your future. This money goes towards your emergency fund (we’ll talk about that next), retirement savings (like a 401k or IRA), and any extra payments on your debt.

Be Flexible: These percentages are a guide. If your rent is high, your “Needs” might be 60%. That’s okay! Just adjust the other categories. The goal is a plan that reflects your real life. The first few months will be a guess. You’ll have to adjust. That’s totally normal. The point is that you’re now making conscious choices instead of just winging it.

3. Build Your Financial Safety Net: The “Peace of Mind” Fund

Life has a funny way of throwing expensive surprises at you. The car transmission goes out. You need an emergency root canal. Your pet gets sick. You lose your job. These things happen to everyone, and without a cushion, they can send you spiraling into debt and panic.

An emergency fund is a dedicated pile of cash for exactly these situations. It is not for a vacation, a new TV, or a great sale. It’s your personal financial safety net. Its only job is to sit there and make sure that when life happens, you don’t have to put it on a high-interest credit card.

How to Make it Simple:

• Start Small: The thought of saving three to six months of expenses can feel impossible. So don’t think about that yet. Your first, super-achievable goal is $500. That’s enough to cover a lot of common small emergencies. Look at your Spending Plan. Where can you find $25 or $50 a week? Can you pack lunch two more days a week? Can you pause a subscription? Set up an automatic transfer from your checking account to a separate savings account for that amount every payday.
• Celebrate Mini-Wins: When you hit $500, do a little happy dance! You now have more financial security than a huge number of people. This mini-fund will drastically reduce your stress.
• Grow It Slowly: Once you have that $500, your next goal can be $1,000. Your ultimate goal should be 3-6 months of essential living expenses (just your “Needs” from your budget), but that is a long-term goal. Focus on the first $500 right now.

4. Tame the Debt Monster: The “Get-Out-of-Debt” Game Plan

Debt, especially from credit cards, can feel like a heavy chain around your ankles. You make payments, but a big chunk just goes to interest, not to paying down what you actually spent. It can feel like you’re running on a treadmill and getting nowhere.

The goal here is to systematically break those chains. While you always need to make your minimum payments, the key is to find a little extra money to throw at your debt to make it disappear faster.

How to Make it Simple:

There are two popular, simple methods. Pick the one that sounds more motivating to you.

• The Debt Snowball (The Quick Win Method):
  1. List all your debts from the smallest balance to the largest, ignoring the interest rates.
  2. Pay the minimum on all of them.
  3. Throw every extra dollar you can at the debt with the smallest balance.
  4. When that smallest debt is GONE, celebrate! That feeling of victory is powerful.
  5. Now, take the total amount you were paying on that first debt (the minimum + the extra) and add it to the minimum payment of the next smallest debt.
  6. Keep repeating this. As you pay off each debt, the amount you can pay on the next one grows like a snowball rolling downhill.
  Why it works: It gives you quick psychological wins, which keeps you motivated.
• The Debt Avalanche (The Money-Saver Method):
  1. List all your debts from the highest interest rate to the lowest.
  2. Pay the minimum on all of them.
  3. Throw every extra dollar you can at the debt with the highest interest rate.
  4. Once that’s paid off, move all that money to the debt with the next highest rate.
  Why it works: This method is mathematically smarter. You’ll pay less in total interest over time.

Which one should you choose? If you need motivation and to see progress fast, choose the Snowball. If you are very disciplined and want to save the most money, choose the Avalanche. The best plan is the one you’ll actually stick with.

5. Look Ahead: The “Pay Your Future Self First” Trick

Saving for the future—especially retirement—feels so far away and abstract. It’s easy to think, “I’ll worry about that later.” But “later” has a way of arriving faster than you think, and the single biggest advantage you have is time.

This is all thanks to a magical thing called compound interest. It’s basically “interest on your interest.” A little money, invested regularly over a long time, grows in a way that isn’t just a straight line—it’s a curve that gets steeper and steeper. Starting even five years earlier can make a six-figure difference down the road.

How to Make it Simple:

• The No-Brainer Start: If your job offers a retirement plan like a 401(k), especially if they offer a company match, this is your number one priority. A match is free money. If they will match your contributions up to 3% of your salary, you should contribute at least 3%. Not doing this is like saying no to part of your salary. The money comes out of your paycheck automatically, so you never even see it to miss it.
• The Simple Start (No 401k?): Open a Roth IRA. You can do this easily with an app or a company like Vanguard or Fidelity. You can set it up to automatically pull $50 or $100 from your checking account every month.
• Don’t Get Overwhelmed: You don’t need to be a stock market expert. When you open your account, just look for something called a “Target-Date Fund.” You just pick the fund with the year close to when you’ll retire (like 2060), and the experts handle the rest. It’s a set-it-and-forget-it solution.

6. Spend on What You Truly Value: The “Joyful Spending” Edit

Being good with money isn’t about cutting out all the fun. In fact, it’s the opposite! It’s about making sure your money is going towards the things that make you genuinely happy and cutting back on the things that don’t.

Look back at your spending tracking from Step 1. You’ll probably see things you spent money on that didn’t really add much value to your life. Maybe it was a cheap, fast-fashion top you never wear, or food that went bad in the fridge.

How to Make it Simple:

• The Values Check: Think about what you truly love. Maybe it’s traveling, eating at amazing restaurants, a particular hobby, or just having a cozy night in with a great movie.
• Align Your Spending: Now, look at your Spending Plan. Are you directing your “Wants” money towards those things you truly value? Or is it leaking out on stuff that doesn’t matter?
• Cut the Fat, Not the Muscle: This is your chance to cancel the subscriptions you don’t use and say no to the impulsive buys that don’t bring you joy. This isn’t about deprivation; it’s about redirecting that money towards the purchases that will actually make you smile. It gives you permission to spend generously on the things you love, because you’ve been intentional about cutting out the stuff you don’t.

7. Make it a Habit: The “Money Date” Ritual

You don’t just go to the gym once and get fit. Financial health is the same. It requires small, consistent check-ins. The best way to do this without it taking over your life is to institute a “Money Date.”

This is a scheduled, non-negotiable time—maybe 30 minutes once a week or every two weeks—where you sit down with a cup of coffee and just look at your money.

How to Make it Simple:

• Schedule It: Put it in your calendar. Sunday evening? Tuesday morning? Make it a ritual.
• What to Do: During your Money Date, you can:
  • Check your bank account and make sure your transactions look right.
  • See how you’re doing with your Spending Plan for the month.
  • Transfer money to your savings account.
  • Pay any upcoming bills.
  • Quickly check in on your debt payoff progress.
• Why It Works: This small, regular habit prevents money from becoming a scary, looming monster. It keeps you engaged and in control. It turns financial management from a huge, overwhelming project into a simple, routine maintenance task.

You Can Do This

Getting better with money is a journey, not a destination. You will have setbacks. You’ll have a month where you blow your restaurant budget. That’s okay. The goal isn’t perfection; it’s progress.

Don’t try to implement all seven of these steps at once. That’s a recipe for burnout. This week, just try Step 1 and track your spending. Next week, use that info to create a basic Spending Plan. The week after, open a new savings account and put $20 in it.

Every small step you take is a win. Every time you make a conscious choice with your money, you are taking back control. You are building a life with less stress and more freedom, and you are absolutely capable of doing it. Start today.