With Spring arriving on March 20, many of us will be doing some time of spring cleaning in the coming weeks. It could be washing all the windows in the house, scrubbing the baseboards or just packing up the winter clothes and breaking out the short-sleeve shirts and shorts.
With all of that, it may be a good time to spring clean your finances as well. What should be on your To-Do List? We have a few suggestions:
- Check your subscriptions and recurring charges. Are you paying for a streaming service you never watch? Maybe a magazine or online service you no longer use? Check your bank statements and credit card activity to see what you no longer need - and cancel those items.
- Review your budget. Did your income change recently? Have you paid off some debt? Is a new car in the future? Take a look at your income - whether it's from a job, Social Security, investments or something - and then review all your expenses. You may find a couple ways to save more (including increased contributions to an employer plan), pay down some debts or build up your emergency fund.
- Check your credit report. Go to AnnualCreditReport.com and request a copy of your credit report (and your spouse's as well, if applicable). Spend time reviewing the document. Do the existing credit lines match with your bills? Does anything look out-of-place or incorrect? Are there accounts that have your name on them that you are not aware of? If you find items that need disputed, AnnualCreditReport.com offers suggestions for users.
- Consider automatic payments and savings. Many of us have heard (in some form) "Make savings part of your payment plan." As you review your finances, you might consider setting up automatic payments for your utilities (if you are comfortable with that). After you've reviewed your budget and (potentially) find some extra income, set-up an automatic payment to some type of account and let the money grow.
- Clean out old papers. You know that box in the back of the closet that has taxes from 2012? You likely do not need those any longer. IRS guidelines suggest keeping tax documents up to seven years (depending on your tax situation). Before you toss everything, make sure there are no insurance forms or estate documents with the tax documents.
- Consider going digital. More and more things are going paperless, including bank statements and tax forms. Look into signing up for online access to your financial, insurance and medical accounts to help eliminate clutter.
Do you have other ideas of how to spring clean your finances? Send us a note and we may add it to our blog!