Whether you are in debt or are interested in wiping out some of the extra payments that are coming in the mail, is the ability to move forward with your needs through money management.  The different concepts that apply to this can help you to move out of debt, no matter what your current situation is.  Making sure that you follow basic guidelines for your financial obligations and matching what is needed for your budget can help you to stay debt free and can provide you with more options for your financial future.  Following are the top five tips to use when you are managing your money. 

1.  Keep track of your income.  Even if you only have one job with income that is in the household through one portal, you will want to track how much you are making.  This will make a difference in your spending abilities as well as the amount that you can use to clear out debts.  Once you are aware of how much is coming into the household, you can make adjustments by finding ways to increase your income or to budget your spending. 

2.  Add up the debt.  The second component to better money management is to make sure that you have an understanding of how debt you are paying per month.  Monthly installments, minimum amounts you have to pay and spending for household supplies should all be added into the amount you are spending per month.  You can then match this with your income to see how this balances. 

3.  Know the overall debt amount.  If you have personal loans, credit cards, car loans or a mortgage, then you will want to look at the overall amount that you owe.  By doing this, you will be able to track how much you should be paying per month while reaching goals to move out of debt or to maintain your bills.  Aiming at better money management by increasing your payments can then provide you with more options for getting out of debt and stabilizing your financial future. 

4.  Balance out your debts.  Even if your income amount doesn’t match with the payments you have to make, you can still move into better options for the payments you are making.  Defining the most important payments to make and balancing out how much you can pay can provide you with a movement into financial freedom.  You will also want to balance out your debts by looking at your current spending and changing your focus on the spending that is a part of your monthly budget. 

5.  Set long term goals.  A common mistake that many households make is that they don’t look into their financial future. You will want to set goals of how to move out of debt within a short period of time or to maintain all of the amounts that you owe.  Looking at the amount of time it will take to pay off your debts and making sure that you remain consistent with payments that will eliminate all of your payments can help you to move into financial freedom with a balanced understanding of what is needed for your income level, payments and timing of paying off your bills.