(Guest post by Shannon Weinstein)
If you are finding yourself at home these days, you may find some motivation to get around to cleaning up your home, your calendar and perhaps your finances. So many of us dread the task of cleaning up our money, thinking it is a heavy workload to take on. The workload involved seems stressful, but it will alleviate so much more stress to get it done.
Much like cleaning and organizing your home under the KonMari method™, you should tackle your financial organization by category. Below are my top tips to get your money in order. I recommend doing this at least quarterly:
1) Cash & Spending
Start with your cash and examine your spending. Gather all of your bank and credit card statements. Look for recurring monthly expenses. See where you can stop some of this money from draining out in areas where you barely notice it. Add up the total amounts spent on recurring costs that no longer bring value to you and cancel as needed.
2) Debt
Now, look at debt. How much do you currently owe and are you up to date on all payments? Aim to pay down small balances and high-interest debt first.
3) Investments & Savings
Move on to investments and savings. How much have you set aside to invest in your future? Setting up automated payments into a savings fund or retirement account is a great way to save without even noticing. In fact, if you performed step #1 above and discovered you were overspending, take some of that money and re-route it into a savings, retirement or investment account instead.
I recommend you hold a business meeting periodically for your own household financial review and run through the items above, making adjustments as needed. This could be by yourself or with a significant other. This could also span several days. If you want, take on one or two of these tasks a day for the weekend. You could also hire a professional to help review these items with you and give you clear direction and action steps to move you closer to your financial goals.
Shannon is a CPA based in Connecticut. She currently operates a 100% virtual accounting and tax practice specifically catered to entrepreneurs and the health and wellness industry. You can learn more about her at www.fitnancialsolutions.com.
If you want some assistance getting your finances in order, contact Shannon at shannon@fitnancialsolutions.com and be sure to follow her on Instagram for daily tips.
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