There is no better time than right now to become more financially organised. The good news is you can do this by decluttering your finances.
To help you get started, we’ve produced a short guide. Therefore, read on to discover four steps to decluttering your finances and becoming more financially organised.
Step 1. Keep your money separate.
Just as you keep your clothes in separate drawers, you should also separate your money into different spending categories. For instance, you could have one account for your everyday spending, another four monthly bills, and others for short-term and long-term savings.
Separating your money in this way gives you greater transparency over your finances and more control of your spending. Moreover, it makes sense to split the money you are saving for a holiday from that you spend daily. Otherwise, you would likely spend it rather than saving it.
Mobile banking applications make it easy to compartmentalise your money. With a couple of taps on your phone, you can shift money from one account to another, helping you budget and keep track of what you spend.
Step 2. Review your regular spending.
Another benefit of mobile banking applications is that they make it easy to review your regular spending. Ideally, you should regularly spend 5 to 10 minutes checking your direct debits and other regular payments from your bank account. You may be surprised at what you are paying out each month. Costs for utilities, broadband, insurance, and other services will likely increase over time, especially if you took them out during an introductory offer period.
When you’ve checked what you are paying, shop around and see if you can find a better deal. Comparison websites are an excellent starting point to do this. Once you’ve arranged the best deal, organise payments to come out at the start of the month, when your salary arrives in your bank. Doing so will clarify what you have remaining for the rest of the month, leaving you confident that you’re not falling behind on payments.
Step 3. Eliminate your debt.
Becoming debt-free is a fantastic feeling, and you can achieve it by making small sacrifices and adopting lifestyle changes. Of course, sacrificing means giving something up, so there is a challenge associated with this. However, rather than focusing on the sacrifice, imagine how good you will feel when you have become debt-free.
You may struggle to understand where to start eliminating your debt, so here’s a good tip. Start by making a list of all your financial obligations, and rank them in order of interest rates from the highest to the lowest. Once you have your list, start tackling those dates at the top that have the highest interest payments. Eliminating these debts first will free up more of your money that you can then use to clear your smaller interest debts more quickly.
Dealing with debt can be stressful. If you feel overwhelmed, consider contacting a debtor counsellor for some support.
Step 4. Look after your future self.
Becoming financially organised will benefit you today, for sure. However, you also need to consider your future self and make sure they are looked after. It may be challenging to understand how your retirement will look, especially if it is several decades away. Therefore, you must start to prepare for that day as soon as possible. That means starting your retirement planning today and looking after your future self. Getting professional and regulated financial advice will help you with planning for your retirement, check out Portafina.
Where to start?
The good news is you may well already have started preparing for your retirement. If you are over 22 years old and earn over £10,000 per year, your employer must enrol you in a workplace pension scheme. Currently, enrolment in such schemes means around 8% of your salary’s value gets paid into your retirement fund. This amount comprises 4% of your salary, 1% in tax relief, and a minimum of 3% in employer contributions. Therefore, if you have no other pension provisions in place, a workplace pension is a great start.
The State Pension.
The qualifying age to receive your state pension currently sits in the mid-60s for men and women. However, this is likely to rise. Therefore when it comes to your retirement, the State Pension may not kick in until long after you have stopped working. If the State Pension is your only retirement income provision, you should consider whether it is sufficient, but this is unlikely to be the case. Therefore, you should put other plans for retirement income in place as soon as possible.
Conclusion
Becoming financially organised will help you both economically and emotionally. One good way to achieve this is to declutter your finances. Hopefully, the short article will help you accomplish this to help manage your money more efficiently.