How to get a financial life in less than 24 hours

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Time is one of the most precious assets we have. Most of us would rather not spend it making a budget or filing taxes. But a little effort now can pay off handsomely down the line.

CNBC Select shares eight simple actions you can take to better your finances, along with a rough estimate of how long each task takes.

An emergency fund is your financial safety net, funded with easily available funds you can tap for car repairs, medical bills, and other unplanned expenses.

Experts recommend having enough money to fund between three and six months' worth of basic living expenses. If that's out of reach, it's fine to start small and grow your emergency savings. Even a few hundred dollars can make a huge difference.

The best place to keep your emergency fund is a high-yield savings account. Signing up is easy and you get to take advantage of compound interest on savings accounts. LendingClub's Level Up Savings and UFB Portfolio are two of CNBC Select's top picks for HYSAs.

Budgeting apps make the process of organizing your cash flow as simple as it can get. For example, PocketGuard allows you to hold yourself accountable with easy to read pie charts of your cash flow and expenses.

Creating a budget and making sure your expenses don't outpace your income can take a few hours. But once you're done, you can just check in regularly to make sure you're staying on track

Your credit score affects whether you can get approved for everything from credit cards to car loans to a mortgage. It can also play a role when you're applying to rent an apartment or for a job.

The system behind credit scores can be opaque, but our beginner's guide to credit scores can help you grasp the fundamentals. Once you understand them, you can make your credit work for you.

One of the most important aspects of maintaining good credit is keeping an eye on your credit reports. CNBC Select's top pick among the best credit monitoring services that you can get for free is CreditWise® from Capital One.

You'll receive an updated VantageScore credit score from TransUnion weekly. You can use the service even if you're not a Capital One customer — just download the CreditWise app.

Whether you're saving for a down payment or your next vacation, let your goals inspire you and help you stick to your budget. Maybe you're trying to become debt-free, open a business or increase your income.

Consider which goals you can achieve in the short term and which ones require a longer game plan. Brainstorm the steps you need to take and let them dictate your financial decisions.

One of the best ways to supercharge your savings is to automate them.

Automating your savings means having a portion of your paycheck automatically sent to your savings account. Alternatively, you can set up regular transfers from your checking account. This cuts down the chances of spending money you meant to save since it's less accessible in your savings account. Plus, you might even feel less guilty splurging every once in a while as you'll know you've already taken care of your saving goals.

It's generally recommended to invest 15% of your income in a retirement account, including any employer contribution. At the very least, you want to maximize your employer match to avoid leaving money on the table.

If your employer doesn't offer a 401(k) plan, you can still take steps to hit your retirement savings goals. Look into individual retirement accounts (IRAs). These personal savings plans may allow you to deduct contributions on your taxes. CNBC Select picked Charles Schwab IRA as the best overall IRA and Fidelity Investments IRA as a great choice for beginners.

Credit cards are a great way to grow your credit history and earn rewards. However, these benefits can be completely undone if you carry a balance and get hit with interest charges.

If you have credit card debt, make paying it off a priority. Next, get in the habit of using your credit cards like you would a debit card: Only charge what you can afford to pay right now. Setting up automatic payments to pay off your card in full every month is a good way to keep on track.

You can pay your cards more than once a month if that makes it easier to clear your balance.

Once you're used to treating your credit cards this way, you'll be able to take full advantage of rewards. When used responsibly, rewards credit cards can yield hundreds of dollars in cash back or travel rewards every year.

CNBC Select picked the Chase Freedom Unlimited® as the best cash-back credit card, thanks to its generous rewards of 5% cash back on travel purchased through Chase Travel℠, 3% cash back on drugstore purchases and dining at restaurants (including takeout and eligible delivery service), and 1.5% on all other purchases (see rates and fees).

And if you're more interested in points and miles, we recommend looking into the American Express® Gold Card. This travel card offers 4X points per dollar spent at restaurants worldwide (on up to $50,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1X) and 4X points at U.S. supermarkets (on up to $25,000 per calendar year in purchases, then 1X), as well as 3X points on flights booked through AmexTravel.com, the Amex Travel App, or purchased directly from airlines. All other purchases earn 1X points. Terms apply.

One area of your financial life that may seem especially overwhelming is investing. It's not as straightforward as, say, savings accounts where your returns are predictable and pretty much guaranteed.

Luckily, you can always start small with just a few taps on your phone. With investing apps, anyone can get access to the stock market and build their wealth in an affordable way.

Beginners can get their feet wet micro-investing through an app like Acorns, which allows you to invest spare change.

At CNBC Select, our mission is to provide our readers with high-quality service journalism and comprehensive consumer advice so they can make informed decisions with their money. Every article is based on rigorous reporting by our team of expert writers and editors with extensive knowledge of personal finance products. While CNBC Select earns a commission from affiliate partners on many offers and links, we create all our content without input from our commercial team or any outside third parties, and we pride ourselves on our journalistic standards and ethics.

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For rates and fees of the American Express® Gold Card, click here.

Results may vary. Some may not see improved scores or approval odds. Not all lenders use Experian credit files, and not all lenders use scores impacted by Experian Boost.