Financial tips for beating the January blues in 2026

Fun is over. You come back down to earth pretty quickly when you realise you have overspent amid the festive spirit. Your savings have depleted, and your salary is still a month away from being deposited into your bank account. How you will make your money last is a paramount question to ask so as not to accumulate debt. This is not the first time you have impaired your budget or racked up credit card debt, but every year you fail to be on top of your expenses. This boils down to your lackadaisical attitude towards finances.

Financial tips for beating the January blues

If you do not want to feel the January blues in 2026, you should consider the following financial tips:

• Do not panic

  Your credit card bill can push your panic button. If you decide to pay off your balance in full, you will be left with almost nothing to pay for your essential expenses, and if you take out unsecured personal loans with bad credit to repay them, you will end up accumulating personal loans. It is a catch-22 situation.

  What to do?

  Do not panic, as this will take you nowhere. You will rather make wrong financial decisions when you are not composed. This will lead to an even worse financial condition. Take stock of your overall finances and then create your action plan.

• Review your spending

  As you have debt obligations to pay off and your savings have been exhausted, you will have to cut back on spending. Review your expenses and categorise them. Since you have already overspent, you should ban discretionary expenses. Not until you have discharged your debts should you spend money on inessential expenses. In fact, you should also try to reduce your budget size for essential expenses. The more money you retain, the sooner you can settle your debt.

  What to do?

  • You should follow a no-spend challenge for a couple of days.
  • Consider ways to reduce your grocery bills. For instance, buy groceries from supermarkets that offer special schemes.
  • Avoid stockpiling, as this is not the right time to block your money, even though it helps save you some money.
  • Postpone buying big-ticket items for a while.
  • Review your gym and other memberships. Cancel them.

  It is worth putting time into shopping for better deals on insurance premiums, phone bills, broadband plans, etc., to save some money.

• Create a budget

  Budgeting is a must in order to take control of your expenses. There are various budgeting methods, but you should choose the one that helps you accomplish your goals. A manual spreadsheet might not be appealing; use a budgeting app. Linking your bank account to your app will record all transactions in one place to apprise you of outgoings.

  When you know where your money is going, you can easily cut back on your expenses. Budgeting will help you set priorities. As you are to discharge bad credit loans with no guarantor from a direct lender, you should set aside money for it as soon as you receive your pay. Try to fit your essential expenses into what you are left with.

• Set up direct debit for savings

  Do not forget to set aside money for emergencies. In case your car breaks down or your laptop starts acting up, savings will help you avoid taking on loans to pay for them. It could be difficult to transfer money every month from your salary account to your savings account to ensure that your emergency cushion is growing. Therefore, you should try to set up direct debit.

  This is also helpful when you have to pay multiple bills and debt payments. Every month, money will be withdrawn from the salary account. This will help you keep up with payments. For an emergency corpus, make sure that the direct debit is timed for the day after your payday so that you do not have to miss your contribution.

• Have some extra cash

  As you have some debts to pay and you are to stash away money for a rainy day, January is certainly going to be a real challenge for your finances. You might have to think of some ways to have additional cash coming in.

To wrap up

After the festive season, January blues are common. Though people try all the harder not to repeat mistakes they made previously, they find their budgets are exhausted. It is vital to get back to the driving seat as soon as possible. The aforementioned tips will help you improve and regain control over your finances.

Emma Parker

Emma Parker is a financial counsellor at LondonLoansBank and has been serving for over 5 years. She is a psychology graduate from the University of Glasgow. Since she has keen interest in the finance field, she pursued a diploma course in banking and finance that led her to opt for her current career. She assists people choose the best loan based on their current financial situation and credit score. As Emma understands how people react to money problems, she gives them a helping hand to solve their financial complications.