Powered by RedCircle

Spring cleaning doesn't just apply to your house!

Trying to keep your finances organized and optimized can be a headache. So use Spring as a time to sort it all out and get your financial life back on track.

In this episode, you'll learn 6 steps to help you spring clean your finances.

Resources mentioned in the show

Get your credit report at annualcreditreport.com

Learn about different budgeting methods here:

• Zero-based budgeting

• The 50/30/20 budget

• The Cash Envelope Method

Enjoy the show?

If you thought this episode was helpful, I'd love it you could leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts.

And don't forget to hit subscribe so you never miss an episode!

Thanks for listening!

Have a question or an episode idea? Email me at podcast@gofrombroke.com or DM me on Instagram @GoFromBroke

Prefer to Read?

Below is the transcript from today's show. Or you can download the full transcript as a PDF.

Welcome to the Go From Broke podcast where you'll learn how to take control of your money so you can stress less and save more. If you're tired of living paycheck to paycheck or constantly wondering where your money is going, you're in the right place. This podcast is all about giving you actionable tips and advice so you can get started improving your finances today.

It's spring and you know what that means spring cleaning! But I'm not talking about deep cleaning your baseboards, as fun as that may sound. I'm talking about spring cleaning your finances.

If you're like me, you probably started the new year off with all sorts of excitement and enthusiasm for what you hoped to accomplish this year. But now that we're a few months in, you may not be quite so enthusiastic anymore.

Well, spring offers a renewal of nature all around you, and it can also mark a renewed interest and a commitment to your goals.

So in today's episode, I'm going to go over six steps to help you spring clean your finances so you can stay on track to hit your goals.

Step one: review your goals.

Reviewing your goals is a great way to reassess and recommit. We all tend to get gung-ho about making changes at the start of the new year, but that enthusiasm and the momentum usually wear off by mid February.

So the beginning of spring is actually a great time to shake out those cobwebs in your budget and take a fresh look at your financial goals.

Look back over the last few months and see, are your goals still valid? And if so, how are you progressing toward them? Are you still on track or have you lost your focus?

Now is a good time to recommit to your goals and regain some of that earlier momentum, or reevaluate and decide maybe those goals weren't the right ones after all.

It's entirely possible that your priorities have changed even over the last few months. And if that's the case, you may want to create a new financial goal that you can work toward for the rest of the year.

Step two: look ahead.

It may be cliche to say, but time really does fly by. We're already a few months into the year, which means Christmas is that much closer and I'm only half joking.

Saving for large expenses like Christmas and annual premiums, it can take time. Planning for those now means that you don't have to save as much all at once and you won't have the stress of being surprised by them down the road.

So take a few minutes to review any expenses that are bound to come up, and make sure you're on track to be able to pay them.

Even though I'm a lot better at this than I used to be, I still find myself thinking that I've got plenty of time to catch up if I need to.

If you find yourself in a similar situation of under-funding or raiding future expense categories, use automation to help break that habit and force yourself to save.

You'll be thankful for it when the bill finally does come due.

Step three: review your credit.

It's always a good idea to review your credit report each year. So why don't I go ahead and do it now?

You can request a free copy online at annualcreditreport.com and then you just want to check to make sure that there are no errors or suspicious activity.

Credit bureau's can often make mistakes and spotting unusual activity, like new accounts can also help you detect identity theft before it becomes a problem.

If you do find an error in your report, make sure you address it. Because negatives on your credit report can have a really negative impact on your life in general.

It can affect your ability to get a job. It can cause you to pay higher interest rates. It can even make it tougher for you just to get insurance or any other lines of credit.

Step four: consider a fresh start.

There's no such thing as the perfect budget for everyone. A financial spring cleaning though, is a good time to review your priorities and how you're implementing them in your financial plan.

If your monthly budget isn't working for you, take a step back and try to figure out why.

Are you feeling too restricted? Are you constantly overspending in certain categories? Maybe your spending habits are making it hard to reach your savings goals. Or maybe you're still getting hit with bank fees and late payment charges.

All of those are signs that you may be using the wrong budgeting method. I cover a number of budgeting methods, including percentage budgeting, the zero based budgeting, envelope budgeting and others. They're on the blog. So I'll put some links to those in the show notes, so you can check those out.

Step five: review your expenses.

Regardless of what budget method you're using. If you're not being deliberate with your spending, you're likely to trip up somewhere along the way.

Now that you've reassessed your goals it's time to look back at your expenses and see if those still align with your priorities.

So maybe you don't really need the fastest internet speed available or the extra data on your cell phone plan.

Maybe you've got monthly subscriptions you don't need or use that are slowly and consistently just draining your bank account.

Take a look at your credit card statement and highlight any charges that don't contribute to your happiness or help you reach your financial goals.

If you find any expenses that you've just been accepting, maybe it's time to let them go.

And finally step six: consolidate and simplify things.

When things tend to pile up and accumulate, my reaction is to consolidate and simplify. It's always easier for me to get a grip on things when it's not spread out or chaotic.

So here are a few ways that you can simplify your finances.

First start with consolidating your accounts. I love to organize and optimize our family finances and experimenting with new apps and services is a little bit of an obsession for me. But spreading out our finances across dozens of accounts, just for the sake of trying something new isn't always the most efficient approach.

That's why I love a good financial spring cleaning. I'll go in and take a look at all of our accounts and see, okay, what's overlapping. And which ones can I combine back again? So if you're in a similar situation where you have multiple checking accounts, can you roll them into one?

Did you create a dozen saving goals accounts, and then never actually fund them? Consolidate and simplify by moving your money back into just a few accounts.

Make sure you're looking at your retirement too. You may have an old 401k or an IRA somewhere, and you can roll those over into your current retirement account and try to, again, consolidate all your retirement in one place.

Another way to simplify your finances is by automating them as much as possible.

Have money transferred directly from your paycheck into your savings account in order to make saving easy. You won't miss what you never see. And in the meantime, your savings will be growing without you even thinking about it.

Also set up automatic payments so you never miss a bill or have late fees again. If you're worried about your credit score, on time payments are the number one factor for achieving and maintaining a high score. So by automating your payments it's a really quick and easy way to help improve your credit score.

Finally, you can simplify your record keeping in general. You may not have ever given much thought to your financial record keeping, but it is a good idea to have a system in place.

Digitizing your financial paperwork will make things easier to manage both now and in the future.

You can use software like Evernote or Notion to scan and store copies digitally, and those will actually scan all the text as well, so you can find anything you want simply by searching for it.

You may still want to keep some hard copies of certain documents in case of an emergency. But for the most part, you can store your scans and e-statements on a flash drive or in the cloud.

Just make sure you keep your paperwork someplace that you or your spouse can easily access it in case there is an emergency.

Remember, the simpler your accounting system, the easier it will be for you to find any documents when you need them, whether it's in case of an emergency, or if it's just getting ready for tax season.

We all have a tendency to live in the moment and put off planning ahead, except at certain key points of the year. So make spring one of those key points for you.

For your action task today, I want you to go through these tips and pick one to start with. Which one of these do you think will help clean up your finances the most?

Whether or not it's just reassessing your goals. That's a pretty simple one. Or if it's taking a weekend and scanning in all your documents so that you can have those organized.

Some of these tips are obviously going to take longer than others, but your action task is to pick one and just make it happen.

Remember, it's awesome to enjoy the warm weather, but it's a great idea to prepare for those rainy days as well.

And don't forget if you liked this episode, share it with a friend or leave a rating and review to help other people find it.

As always take action and make it a great day.

Oh hey, before you go, I wanted to let you know that Go From Broke isn't just a website and podcast anymore. I now offer one-on-one financial coaching too. So if you've been stressed out and struggling to take control of your money, let's chat!

Head over to gofrombroke.com/coaching to schedule a free Q&A call where we'll discuss your unique situation and whether financial coaching is a good fit for you.

I look forward to hearing from you and can't wait to help you stress less and save more.