Financial Resolutions for 2018 with Squirrel

2018 is oh so quickly approaching and with the new year, comes the New Year's resolutions. But rather a lot is going to be changing in my life, as I should be hopefully finishing my Masters in September and starting a very exciting job! 

So I thought that with a change from student life to that of a young professional, that sharing my financial resolutions would help to keep me on track.

1. Adopt a more formal budget.

My new job is going to require the purchase of a car and all the running costs that go alongside it so I'm going to have far more to account for than the few direct debits I currently pay! I currently track my budget by writing down everything I spend and going from there but I'm definitely going to be using a budgeting app like Squirrel. Squirrel essentially makes life easy by managing all your various expenses and helps with your saving goals. As much as I love a good spreadsheet, when time is limited, I'm going to be pretty reliant on Squirrel!

2. Set up a Help-To-Buy ISA
Interest rates in the UK aren't brilliant to be honest, the best savings option out there seems to be a Help To Buy ISA. In an ideal world, I'm aiming to buy a house as soon as it's feasible so I need to keep on track with my money once I'm working!

3. Spend like a student.

Now, this depends on how you spent as a student, but I'm going to try and work to the same food budget I had as a student once I'm working. When anyone gets a job, the prospect of a salary is almost overwhelming, but I'll be sticking to Aldi (as much as I can!).

4. Cash Only.

If you've been keeping up with my no spend posts on this blog, you'll know that a huge thing for me is avoiding using my debit card. I still stick to this as much as possible but I know that it's so easy to use Apple Pay or Contactless. Even when I'm working, I'm very much going to try and stick to my cash-only rule (as much as possible). This means that the only outgoings from my account should be direct debits and standing orders! 

Have you got any New Years financial resolutions for 2018? Do you use any apps like Squirrel?