Hoping for a prosperous year in 2020? You don’t need to sit around waiting to win the lottery or waiting for your dream job to fall in your lap. There are actually a number of smaller things you can do which all add up. Sure, you won’t be rich beyond your wildest dreams but your budget will stretch further and you’ll get the absolute most out of your money. 

Sort out your budget

Before doing anything else, when you’re sorting your finances it’s worth looking at your budget. See what you’re currently spending on, where you’re overspending and where cutbacks can be made. Simple things like writing a meal plan and batch cooking can save massively on grocery costs. Running utility bills through price comparison sites and changing companies and tariffs can also be useful. Just by doing this you could free up a decent amount of cash from your budget without having to do anything else. Having a budget and knowing exactly what comes in and what goes out really puts you in control of your money. 

Start a side hustle

There are lots of ways you can make money from home and around your regular job these days. From freelancing to blogging to Youtube, you could even start a home-based business. You might need to take out a loan to get started with a home business, however, if you search ‘credit unions near me’ you can often get really good rates. It’s a case of spending money to make money here, however, since you’ll (hopefully) be making money, in the long run, it can be considered as ‘good debt’. For things like blogging and freelancing, you can often get started right away without spending money using just your skills and a computer. 

Sell what you no longer need

Many of us have items at home that we simply don’t need, new things come in and older items can sit around collecting dust. Use this as an opportunity to declutter and free up some precious space in your home, while selling items you no longer use. This money can then go towards debt, savings, new items that you do need or just on anything other than clutter that’s not being utilized.