I still have a ways to go when it comes to mastering my money, but automating my finances in 2016 was a big win.

When I moved to New York City two years ago on an intern's salary, my priority was staying afloat: making sure more money was coming in than going out, even if I was netting just $20 a month. By my second year, I had gotten a couple of raises and was able to adjust my financial goals from "staying afloat" to actually saving and investing. I decided to employ a strategy I first read about in David Bach's "The Automatic Millionaire" and automate my finances. It took an hour, max, to automate everything, and it has made a world of difference with my money.

I started by setting up auto-pay for all of my bills that can be paid online. I simply linked my credit card to my internet and cellphone accounts. At the end of each month, both bills are paid in full. The key here is to also set up auto-pay on your credit card, which I did next. At the end of each month, money from my checking account is automatically sent to my credit card company to pay the full balance, so I'll never owe interest. Knowing that a large chunk will be deducted from my checking account at the end of the month forces me to monitor my spending, since the last thing I want to deal with is an overdraft fee. To cover rent and utilities, I write my roommate a check at the start of each month. Insurance comes straight out of my paycheck.

After dealing with my fixed costs, I moved on to my company 401(k) plan and set up "auto-increase." That feature allows you to choose the percentage you want to increase your contributions by and how frequently.

Now, every Jan. 2, my 401(k) contributions automatically increase by 1 percent, meaning I'll never forget to up my contributions (or talk myself out of setting aside a larger chunk).

