Be it business or personal money management. It is kind of hard to manage your cash flow. Unless you understand how the money comes in and out. It's not easy to plan for it. Even harder to project how your future actions with that money. Here are some of the ways to manage the cash flow in your everyday life.
Keep Log
It helps if you keep a log of where you are spending the money. It also helps if you know how to spend the money the after viewing the log each year. Some of the time such log also helps to keep you focused on where not to spend the money. But the trick here is to keep such log. You have to log each and every entry into the log. You have to focus on that part. You have to watch out where you are making the mistakes while spending. That's where keeping log and documentation helps.
Pay Bills
It helps if you pay the bills on time. This way you keep yourself away from the debt. And it even helps you avoid the issues with the late payment or lack of it. Most of the people pay the bills too early. And that also creates the problem. I have noticed that some of the time paying bills too early also affects your cashflow. Don't pay bills too early. Instead pay on time. So that you have some reserve cash till you are going to pay the bills. This has to be managed on every month basis.
Accountant
Taking help from accountant is always a good idea. You can make some good decisions this way. In fact the best things an accountant can do is automate the finances for you. And you don't have to pay attention to that part. In some cases there are times when the accountant can manage some tax deduction for you. Mostly these are the times you are going to make better decisions with such outsourcing. So get an accountant it comes in handy in the long run.
Forecasts
Try to find out when your earning is going to rise. And this will give you an idea of the forecasts. This can include the emergency funds and the spending which you can't avoid. Many people try to do such forecast and then save accordingly. I have learned how to save and spend based on such prediction. Though not always they are likely to be true. But they do help when it comes to planning the purchases. It also helps when saving for the medical emergencies.
Emotions
Emotions are responsible for making you go broke. You spend more money when you are emotionally damaged. I have found that emotions are going to lead you to more stress. So you need to watch out when not to make mistakes. There are times though when the emotions need to be evaluated by third party. Let's say you are buying something due to sadness. And if you are with some friend then such emotions can definitely affect your health. So avoid emotional purchase at all costs.
These are some of the options where you have to manage the cash flow. If you run a business or simply on salary, such points help you understand when and where to check the cash flow.