How to Spring-Clean Your Finances | St. Johns Bank
Now that March has arrived, you are probably hearing the term “spring-cleaning” a lot. However, spring cleaning shouldn’t solely be geared toward cleaning your home. You should also make a plan to spring-clean your finances!
Our team at St. Johns Bank wants to offer you tips about how you can spring-clean your finances and get them in better order for the year. Are you ready to get started?
It can be hard to know where to start when it comes to your finances, especially if you have never carved out time to organize them before. Let’s take a look at how you can get started:
Collect Your Financial Documents
The first thing you want to do collect and separate your financial documents into piles. For instance, your piles might consist of:
- Bank accounts (i.e. checking, savings, etc.)
- Retirement account
- HSA account
- Credit reports
You simply want to make sure you collect ALL your financial documents so you can keep them in one place.
Declutter Your Checking Account
Are you spending more than you are making? What about your budget? Do you have a budget that works for you? Now is the time to get (and keep) your checking account in the positive.
Start by looking at things you can cut back on, such as eating out most nights of the week, cable you don’t really watch, and other big and little expenses. These small cutbacks can yield big benefits for your checking account as a whole.
Also, when creating a budget, make sure you have a line item for savings. Then, automate a certain amount of money to go into your savings account with each paycheck.
If you don’t see it, you won’t spend it. Plus, you need to have a savings account so that you have funds for a rainy day. You just never know when that dishwasher might break!
Say Goodbye to Debt
If you are in the bad habit of carrying credit card debt year after year, 2022 needs to be the year you finally make changes to conquer it.
Put the money you saved thanks to the tip above toward your debt. Work on paying off the debt with the highest interest rate first. Pay the minimum on your other cards, and focus on the one with the highest interest rate, putting as much money as you can toward that debt each month.
Then, once that debt is paid, move on to the next. Before you know it, you will have paid off all your debt, which can allow you to put more money into your savings and retirement accounts!
Need to open an account or two in order to better organize your finances? We are here to help. Contact the financial team at St. Johns Bank today to get started!