Put as much money left over at the end of the month into a high interest savings account. This will help your money to build up quicker without impacting on your day to day living costs.

It's essential to be realistic, if you get a big car bill one month, it's important to cut down on clothes shopping and days/nights out to compensate for the extra cost. Understanding your finances and keeping a strong hold on where your money is going is the best way to avoid debt.

Never underestimate your outgoings as it will defeat the entire purpose of setting a budget! Instead, keep a careful record of what you have and are likely to spend  so you can set clear cut ways to save money and afford all of those monthly expenses.

Forecast the year's events and expenses as far in advance as possible. School holidays, Christmas, birthdays and extra gas/electricity usage in winter all cost extra money - if you factor these extra costs into your short term savings, you'll avoid the stress that comes with an unexpected bill or overdue payment.

Scour the internet for useful budgeting tools. If you're not sure how to map out your budget, they can be extremely useful.

Identifying ways to cut costs without impacting on your lifestyle is the key to successful budgeting. Try swapping meals out for pizza nights at home and exchange expensive days out for some fun activities to do at home.

MoneyMona envelopes can help you budget and offset funds so you can budget more efficiently. Our Visa debit account gives you all of the tools to manage your day to day finances at a glance. Many people are unable to get mainstream accounts and this is generally the people who need the most help. Parents with students and families with financial difficulties can apply for a MoneyMona account as we do not undertake CREDIT CHECKS. Our registration process is easy complete the online application, pay the £5.99 application fee and we do the rest. If all goes well you should receive your account details more or less immediately. You will then receive your card in 7-10 days and will be able to use it wherever you see the Visa logo worldwide.

We have a UK based support team that are willing to deal with any issues or questions you may have in relation to your account. We will be adding additional services to our MoneyMona site as we go forward so follow us on twitter @moneymona for updates, news and offers.