There’s nothing quite like airing out your home from a long winter, scrubbing it down to a sparkly shine, and decluttering the mess that’s piled up. Deep cleans are meant for more than just your house, though. Your finances most likely need some spring cleaning, too.
According to Nerd Wallet, spring is a good time to “conduct a thorough review of your finances and address any neglected areas.” The first and easiest way to conquer that task is by updating your budget, which changes in different areas each year. It’s good to reassess spending habits at least once a year.
Financial goals can change over time, particularly during pandemic years, so reevaluating them each spring is important. Everything from annual vacations to new jobs should be included in your list of financial goals.
Other ways to clean up your finances this spring include reviewing your insurance coverage, services, and cutting unnecessary subscriptions, updating credit cards based on your spending habits in order to maximize rewards and incentives, and making sure your mobile app balances (PayPal, Venmo, Cash App) have zero balances in order to collect interest on cash that is otherwise just sitting there.
Learn the best tips for a thorough financial scrubbing from Money Crashers.
- Get rid of old stuff – This one is self-explanatory: Clean your house of all the things you never use anymore and make a little money at the same time. It’s a win-win!
- Clean up your paperwork – Move all your paperwork to a digital format, backing important documents up in two separate places, like an automated cloud service and an external hard drive, to cut down on unnecessary clutter.
- Automate your savings – Bulk up your savings by splitting your direct deposit between your checking and savings accounts. If it’s not there, you won’t miss it. You’ll actually end up tricking yourself into saving more.
- Review your credit reports for errors – You can check your credit report for free with the three main credit bureaus once a year for each. Now is the best time to comb through your reports and make sure there are no errors. Next, sign up for a free credit monitoring service, like Credit Karma.
No matter how or when you comb through your finances, it’s important to do it at least once a year. But why not tie it into annual spring cleaning and knock everything out at once?