Spring Cleaning Your Finances

Warm weather and longer days mean spring has sprung and for many, so has the urge clean.  In addition to wiping baseboards and running hauls to the thrift store, there’s an area in your life that could use some annual sprucing up, and that’s your finances!

Make the best of your budget

Now is a great time to take a look at the last few months of your bank statements.  Are there areas you can cut back?  Are there recurring expenses you didn’t realize were being charged each month?  Unused or excessive subscriptions and too many food deliveries can mean compounding fees and sometimes hundreds of dollars in expenses.

Annual Credit Report Review

You can get a free annual in-depth credit report without an impact to your score.  This is the perfect way to make sure there are no inaccuracies when it comes to timeliness of payments, undetected fraud, or forgotten charge-offs.

Organize Your Documents

Spring cleaning also coincides with tax season.  Tackle two opportunities at once and organize your earnings documents from the last year.  Shred bank statements that more than three years old and tax documents that are more than seven years old. 

Look for Ways to Save

Finally, put a new year’s resolution into play and automate your savings plan.  Setup automatic transfers to savings or investment accounts to ensure consistent progress.  Round up small debts and outstanding balances and pay them to zero, reducing your monthly bill budget and opening up extra cash to save to put against debt.