The following is a guest post written by Holly Wolf. Enjoy!
It’s the traditional time of year for sweeping out the cobwebs, clearing out the closets, and cleaning out the furthest corners of your home. Your attic might be empty and your basement may be spotless, but spring cleaning shouldn’t stop there.Giving your personal finances a good once-over is a great way to give yourself a fresh financial start for the summer and set yourself up for the year to come. Here are five easy steps to declutter, streamline, and organize your finances.
1.) Go through your paperwork
Most of us find ourselves facing mounds of statements, receipts, and other financial paperwork cluttering up desk drawers, boxes, and files.The paper piles can be overwhelming, and it’s inconvenient to find what you need when you need it. Tackling the paperwork head on is the first step to getting control over your finances. First, gather everything together: be sure to dig out any stray documents that may be hiding in various spots around the house. The first step is to discard any records you don’t need any more. Keep your tax returns and any receipts you might need to support them or future insurance claims. In most cases, a year’s worth of bank statements and pay slips, and a recent copy of credit reports are sufficient: carefully shred the rest to protect yourself from identity theft.
Digitizing essential documents is another great way to cut down on paper. Scan and save PDF files of your most important paperwork so that you can access and print them as you need them.
2.) Automate regular banking tasks with online banking
Setting up online banking is a simple job these days, and it allows you instant, convenient access to your accounts whenever you need it. You can keep a close eye on your finances and quickly transfer money in the case of any shortfall. Setting up Bill Pay or automatic debits for your regular outgoing payments takes some of the work out of managing your monthly finances and helps you avoid late fees and saves you money on postage.
3.) Download helpful apps to streamline your banking
Mobile banking is the newest advance in personal finance management, and many financial institutions are now offering apps for your smart phone. You can now securely access your account from anywhere with a few taps on your touch screen. You can set up alerts to let you know when an account falls below a set balance, or to notify you when a specific check clears. Mobile deposit apps now allow you to deposit checks over the phone. You simply snap a photo of the check and it conveniently uploads directly to your account.
4.) Check your credit report
Knowledge is power, and seeing exactly what your creditors are seeing when you apply for a loan or credit card is half the battle. It also gives you an opportunity to spot and correct any mistakes before they can cost you valuable opportunities. It’s not uncommon for inaccurate or misreported information to affect your credit score, but if you don’t see it, you can’t fix it. You can get a free yearly report from all three of the major credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) at
www.annualcreditreport.com.
5.) Update your budget and long-term financial plans
Now’s a good time to take a fresh look at your monthly budget. Your financial situation may have changed over the past year, and it’s a good idea to review your expenditures and check on the progress of your long-term goals.Are you prioritizing and paying down high-interest debt? Do you have an active savings account? It’s easy to fall into the habit of using your checking account for everything, but it’s even easier to spend more than you mean to when all your money is in one place. This is also an opportunity to review your retirement plans and insurance policies: are you on track for retirement, and do you have adequate cover? Life changes like a new baby, new job, or significant purchase may mean that your needs have changed, and your strategies might need an adjustment, too.
Following these suggestions will give you a solid foundation for the remainder of the year, and make maintenance easier. It’s easier to keep a clean house clean after a thorough clear out, and it’s exactly the same with your financial house. You can “clean as you go” with simple monthly spot-checks, and schedule another review in about three months. By the time next spring comes around, you should find your personal finances tidy, clear, and orderly.
How about you all? Do you have any regular monthly, quarterly, or yearly steps that you take to ensure your finances are on track?
If so, what do you do and how do you keep from forgetting to keep up with it?
Share your experiences by commenting below!
Jacob’s Thoughts – Listed below are my random thoughts as I was reading this article.
- Lots of good tips in this article, and a fair few that I do myself!
- As far as going through my paperwork, in general, I tend to keep up with sorting and organizing that pretty well. About once a month, I sort through the papers that have accumulated in my “inbox” and file them accordingly in my personalized financial filing system.
- Online banking also really helps me to de-clutter my life of paper files and to ensure that all of my bills get paid on time. In fact, I now have things set up so that I don’t actually manually pay any of my monthly bills by paper check. They are all handled online now. The only bill that I pay “manually” is my real estate tax bill that I pay twice a year! Nice!
***Photo courtesy of http://s0.geograph.org.uk/geophotos/02/31/43/2314318_0228a033.jpg
