6 easy ways to improve your relationship to money in 2016

Getting your finances in check probably topped your list of New Year's resolutions...again.

But now that 2016 is here, and you've swiftly swapped a pile of gleaming New Year's confetti for a giant stack of bills, balancing your budget might seem like an impossible task. While punting the oft-repeated resolution to next year is tempting, you could be putting your long-term financial health in danger.

According to stats from Moody's Analytics, people under 35 are spending more than they are saving, with an average savings rate of negative 2%. Many young Americans are riddled in debt, are behind on retirement saving, and don't have enough cash on hand in case of emergencies.

It's not a problem that can be solved overnight — or likely by the end of 2016. But smart and small changes can help you refresh your finances to lay a foundation for a healthy fiscal future.

"People try to do too much too fast. You can't go immediately from being a couch potato in 2015 to doing well in cross fit at the beginning of 2016," Erin Lowry, the founder of personal finance blog BrokeMillennial.com, says. "It needs to be similar with your money."

1. Set attainable goals that reflect the reality of your financial health

First, you have to do the scariest thing: actually look at your money.

It's key to figure out what your finances actually look like, Lowry says. Take a close look at all of your accounts and calculate the difference between the cash that's flowing in and out of the bank.

This audit will help you create realistic financial goals and priorities, whether you want to start saving for a new apartment or if you'll need to take a side job to help supplement your income. These goals should also be concrete, so you can keep yourself accountable. "Don't just say, 'I want to save more this year,'" Lowry says. "Say, 'I want 5,000 in my retirement account.'"

To help you achieve those goals, you should create a monthly budget — and stick to it religiously. Allocate money for mandatory monthly payments like rent and your credit card bill, set an allowance for food spending, and budget how much you want to save each month. Kyle Taylor, a personal finance blogger who founded ThePennyHoarder.com, recommends that you try to save 10-20% of your income annually.

That may seem like a lot — especially in expensive cities like New York and San Francisco — but don't give up just because you can't squirrel away the maximum. Every dollar you save helps: if you put away only $20 a week, that's still $1,040 in savings — a cushion that you didn't have before.

Taylor says that it's also important that your monthly budget reflects the worst-case scenario.

"Take a look at your last six months of income and then make a budget based off of your worst month of income," Taylor says. "This way you'll never be surprised by a down month."

How to do this? Remember: technology is your friend.

Like we said, the hardest part is actually taking your hands off your face and looking at your financial situation, no matter how hard it is. Apps to help you with budgeting and tracking your money are plentiful.

Try Mint.com or LearnVest to see all your money and your spending in one place, which will allow you to spot patterns in how you think about money. (More on money and our emotions below).

Some people love spreadsheets to track what's coming in and going out, and spreadsheets are especially great for big financial projects like a mortgage payment or huge student loan. You don't even have to create your own; Google has financial spreadsheet templates accessible right in Gmail and banks like Bank of America offer ones for household budgeting.

Just remember: it really is worth it to take a straight-ahead look at the actual amounts you're dealing with, even if they depress you at first. Denial gets you nowhere. Money is tangible and based on hard numbers, which means you can control it (if you don't let it control you).

2. Save, don't stress

Here's the key to savings: put them somewhere where you can't see them all the time.

Keeping your savings account in the same bank as your checking account can be dangerous — you might be inclined to dip into it until it's depleted. Kill the temptation by opening up a separate savings account at a different bank, Lowry suggests.

Opening up that account in an online-only bank like Synchrony (which, at 1.05%, has a higher interest rate than other banks) will save you dimes by keeping your savings out of mind.

Taylor also urges consumers to automate their saving. "Apps like Acorns and Digit automatically take small amounts of money from your checking account. This way, you're able to build up your savings without having to think about it," he says.

3. Downsize without depriving yourself

The idea of saving can stress you out — until you think of the freedom it will bring you later.

Likely, one of the biggest drains on your bank account is social spending. If sacrificing your Netflix account seems unthinkable, you'll need to trim the fat elsewhere. Taylor suggests thinking critically about where you're spending that food budget, which many adults often blow through at restaurants and bars.

"Instead, use your food budget for groceries, then create other, smaller budgets for eating out and going to bars," Taylor says. "Separating these expenses makes it easy to see when it's time to cut back on a certain category."

In other cases, your bank account might be feeling the pain of a monthly subscription that you haven't gotten around to cancel. Double check your credit card payments to make sure you don't have any monthly subscriptions with places you don't use or don't need.

Trim, an app launched by Thomas Smyth and Daniel Petkevich in November 2015, can do this for you: the app will scan your credit card statements for all of your monthly subscriptions and allow you to cancel them over text message.

"We were looking at each other's credit card statement, and Dan realized he was paying for renter's insurance for an apartment he no longer had. I was paying for a Hulu account that I forgot to cancel. We actually called our friends and got their credit card statements, they had the same problem," Smyth says. "Everybody had something going on that they could get rid of."

For Trim users, according to data provided by Smyth, the monthly subscriptions most users got rid of were Experian Credit Reports, WeightWatchers.com, and Planet Fitness.

But downsizing doesn't mean you should deprive yourself of nights on the town or a dinner with friends. In fact, sticking to such a stringent budget might entice you to spend too much once a decent paycheck comes in.

"Even if you have debt, I'd put a little bit of money aside for a fun fund. Put aside [money] each month to do something enjoyable," Lowry says. "It will prevent you from yo-yo dieting in your financial life."

Giving money to charity, however small, is a good way to use your money to work for people other than yourself.

And remember: experiences make better memories than things do. Strive to hang out with friends, explore the area around you, or learn a new skill. Learning to cook, becoming a better photographer, or finally becoming fluent in Chinese, Arabic, Spanish or French will do a lot more to improve your life than that expensive pair of shoes.

4. Money is emotional. Accept that and work with it.

Whatever your brand of anxiety, stress or control, money will bring it out of you. Money brings out the quirks in everyone. If you feel insecure in your life, you're more likely to spend on things that you think will make you feel more secure: status clothes or bags, expensive haircuts or highlights. If you have a job that makes you tired all the time, you'll be spending your money on ways to ease its demands, like always eating out or ordering food and taking cabs because you're too exhausted to get home. The problems of making too little money are obvious — high stress, social anxiety — and the problems of making more money than you expected are real too, and can include an addiction to retail therapy or booking trips to run away from your life.

Recognizing your patterns helps you control your money. Do you deprive yourself in an effort to be "good," then crack under the stress and splurge as soon as you get a new paycheck or payment? Do you spend too little, living like a hermit and not maximizing the freedom your money can bring? Do you see money as a source of tension and trouble rather than a tool for improving your life?

In the eye-opening book "Money Drunk, Money Sober," authors Mark Bryan and Julia Cameron compare money to an addictive substance and describe emotional categories ranging from the "big-deal chaser" to the "poverty addict."

Even outside those categories, money changes people, and it's worth taking some time to think about how you use money to fulfill your emotional needs.

5. Keep your eyes on the prize(s)

Saving money and paying bills may not necessarily feel like fun now, but they win you freedom later: a good credit score and money in the bank will give you the freedom to buy a car, buy a house, and have kids without panicking — or, if you're not the settling-down type, it will give you the ability to travel and rack up airline miles on a good credit card. Pick one major financial achievement and keep it in mind.

If you want to visualize it, keep a picture in your email, Evernote or note-taking app to remind you what it's all for when you skip the expensive restaurant or pass on your friend's expensive destination wedding.

6. Plan for the future

While you may be living paycheck to paycheck, it's still important to plan for the future — the far, far future.

"Because retirement seems so far away, millennials forget to make this long-term investment," Taylor says. "However, it's one of the strongest money decisions young adults can make that guarantees their financial security in the long run."

It might be time to finally sign up for your employer's 401K program, consider enrolling. Some companies like United Airlines, Nike, and Walmart will even match your monthly 401K payment to help give your retirement fund more padding.

If you can't spare a chunk of your paycheck for a 401k just yet, consider creating a separate savings account that can serve as your start to retirement saving. Put a smaller percentage aside each month, and put extra cash away until you have enough money to feel more secure.

There also might be a way to add some money to your 401K as you prepare to file your taxes in April. Taylor points to the IRS' Saver's Credit, which allows mid- to low-income workers to get money back for contributing to their 401K. For instance, a single adult with an annual income of less than $27,375 could get 50% of their 401k contribution back.

"It's one of the most valuable tax credits available," Taylor says, "but sadly it's one of the most overlooked."

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