Why it’s important: To make the most of your finances, the first thing you need to understand is where your money is going.

What you should do: Get hold of your bank statements for the last three months or sign up to online banking (if you haven’t done already). Draw up a table with ‘wants’, ‘needs’ and ‘savings’, add all of your outgoings under one of these headings and total up each column. This will help you to see where most of your money is going, whether that’s on essentials or non-essentials.

Then look at your income. This will include your salary but also things like any interest you earn on savings, property rental income or any benefits you receive. Then subtract your monthly expenses from your income to see whether you have money left over or a shortfall.

This exercise will not only show what you’re spending your money on, but where you’re able to reduce expenses as well – especially those that are particularly high or you’re not making the most of.

Estimated time: 1-2 hours

Why it’s important: Planning is the first step to taking control of a variety of things in your life, and nowhere is that truer than your finances. Remember, your budget shouldn’t be rigid – it should be flexible enough to allow for any changes in your circumstances, unforeseen or otherwise.

What you should do: Once you know where your money is going, you need to create a budget. There are lots of different ways you can approach a budget, but one popular method is the 50/30/20 approach.

In this approach, you allocate 50% of your income to essential outgoings, 30% to non-essentials and 20% to savings. This budgeting approach is flexible too, so if your circumstances do change you can amend the proportions to something more manageable for you.

As well as month to month, think about the whole year ahead. Are there any months in the year where you’ll need to spend more than usual, or your income will drop? If so, try to put more money away in other months to keep your savings topped up.

Estimated time: 1-2 hours

Why it’s important: Whether it’s Buy Now, Pay Later, credit cards or personal loans, it’s easy to borrow money to supplement your spending. But when you’re paying interest on these debts it’s essentially money down the drain. Becoming debt-free will mean more money in your pocket over the long term.

What you should do: You need to decide which of your debts to pay off first. When it comes to non-priority debts, there’s no right or wrong answer. One method is the ‘snowball debt method’. In this method you pay your smallest debt first, and once that is paid off in full, you roll the money you were paying towards that debt into the next smallest balance, and so on. There are numerous other methods to paying off debt – find what works for you and your money.

Estimated time: 30 minutes

Why it’s important: Emergency funds are crucial, and it’s easy to see why. If an emergency arises, or your circumstances change, having a fund already there means you won’t have to worry about how to pay for it.

What you should do: You should always pay off your debts before you start saving, because you'll rarely be able to earn more on savings than you'll pay on your borrowing.

Whether you still have debts to pay or are debt-free you can start researching a savings account to suit your needs. For your emergency fund you will need an easy access account that allows you to use your money at short notice without having to pay a fee.

You also need to set yourself a savings goal. Ideally, you’ll save the equivalent of six months’ income into your emergency fund – but start small with just a month and you can build up from there.

Estimated time: 1-2 hours

Now that you have a plan, it’s time to start looking to the future.

Why it’s important: You may already have financial goals. But to be motivated to achieve them, you need to make sure they’re realistic.

What you should do: Write down all your goals. In order to make them achievable you need to make them specific. So rather than “I want to save up for a holiday”, you could say “I am going to save up £1,000 for my holiday to the Maldives”, and give yourself a deadline. Then work out how much you will need to save each month to get you there.

Sticking to your financial goals is much easier if you have a money buddy to keep you on track. Choose someone you speak to regularly and who you trust. If you find it hard to talk to others about money (don’t worry - you’re not alone), our guide can help you get the conversation started.

Estimated time: 1-2 hours

Why it’s important: Checking your credit report regularly means you can keep an eye on your financial standing. It also means you can keep an eye out for any mistakes or any fraudulent activity happening under your name.

What you should do: You can access your credit report for free from any of the three main credit reference agencies: Equifax, Experian and TransUnion (also known under the brand name Credit Karma).

Make sure every detail on there is correct. Don’t worry about over-checking, either - your checks aren’t recorded on your report. In fact, it’s worth checking your report from each agency at least once a year (add a reminder to your calendar now to check again this time next year).

Estimated time: 30 minutes

Why it’s important: Whatever your age, it’s always useful to consider the future, when you’d like to finish work and how you’d like to live after work.

What you should do: Start by checking your State Pension – how much it will be worth and when you are likely to get it.

Then look up your workplace pension and any personal pensions you have. To do this you’ll need your annual pension statements (you may have access to them online). Once located, check what you are projected to get when you retire based on how much money you’re currently putting in and how much your pension has grown.

By combining these estimates, you can work out how much money you can expect to have in retirement. This will help you to decide whether you need to start putting more away for later life.

Estimated time: 1-2 hours

Why it’s important: Over time the cost of living typically goes up, and inflation can eat into your regular savings. Investing some of your cash can help you earn more from your money and keep up with rising prices.

What you should do: The first thing to do is work out how long you want to invest for, your appetite to risk, the kind of returns you want and whether you want to manage your investment plan yourself.

Use our guides below to get you started with the basics, then start to research the investments that best suit your needs. Checking in on your investments and savings should be on your to-do list at least once a year, so put a reminder in your calendar for this time next year.

Estimated time: 2 hours