When it comes to saving money there are the normal pieces of advice like skip the lattes, use coupons, and set up automatic deposits to your savings account. These are great pieces of advice but you need to have your financial foundation set up first.
In order to really know what your finances look like you need to get organized and stay organized. Here’s how.
# 1 – Conquer the Paperwork
Filing is definitely a dreaded task for me, especially if the paperwork is already piled up. That’s why it’s so important to file important papers as they come in. If your paperwork is piled up it’s time to conquer it.
Start by making a trash pile, a shred pile, and a keep pile. All unimportant documents should get tossed in the trash. If they have personal information such as account numbers, social security numbers, and birthdates they should be shredded. You should also call tax preparation winter haven fl services to keep track of your taxes.
The keep pile should then be organized. I keep all bills for one year, bank statements indefinitely, tax records for seven years, and insurance policies for the length of the policy period.
I keep a binder for my bank statements. All of the other long term documents are kept in their own separate folders.
Short term papers like utility bills and credit card statements get filed by month. When I come back to a new month I simply shred the documents from the previous year. Even businesses have credit card readers that organizes all their transactions.
This is a simple, yet effective way of keeping filing in order.
# 2 – Make a Routine
The best routine when it comes to creating a file system is to put documents away as they come in. If you let them pile up you’ll dread going through them.
Filing isn’t the only routine you should have in place. You should also have a routine in place when it comes to paying your bills.
For me, I like to pay my bills as they come in as long as I have the funds to do so. You could do this or opt to sit down and pay bills a certain day of the week, every week or every other week.
# 3 – Review Your Financial Information
It’s also important to keep up to date on your insurance coverage’s and investing statements. You need to review these at least yearly.
You should also get quotes from multiple insurance carriers at least every three years. As a personal lines insurance agent I can attest to the fact that insurance only goes up the longer you stay with a company. You need to look other places every few years in order to keep the best rates.
Conclusion
Once you get organized you’ll be able to see where your money is going and where it should be going. You’ll know what your insurance policies cover and how your investment portfolio is doing. You’ll be able to see how much debt you have and be able to make a plan to get out from under it.
If you want to do well financially you have to be organized. Otherwise, you’ll have no idea where your money is going.
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