How to Spring Clean Your Finances

It’s Time to Dust off the Cobwebs and Tackl this Task Head On…

Spring is here, and it’s the perfect time to declutter and organise your life. While you may be focusing on tidying up your home, it’s also an excellent opportunity to spring clean your finances.

I can hear the groans now. No one likes spring cleaning, but tacklign your finances head on is not what anyone wants to deal with right now. However, I promise you it’s worth it. It’s important to create a solid plan, establishing good financial habits that will set you up for success throughout the year.

So pull up a chair and grab a cuppa. Here are five tips to help you get started on spring cleaning your finances…

Review Your Budget.

The first step in spring cleaning your finances is to review your budget. Take a look at your income and expenses and see if there are any areas where you can cut back. This can include things like dining out or subscription services that you no longer use.

Something that will help this is using budgeting tools or apps to track your expenses, savings and your financial future. Personally for me, I love Moneybox. I rave about it to anyone that will listen to me.

Pay Off Debts.

It’s not something we want to talk about, but one of the biggest obstacles to financial freedom is debt. This spring, if you have outstanding debts, make it a priority to pay them off. Especially during this time of year with interest rates going up.

If you have one debt, tackle it aggressively and just get it off your books. If there are multiples, there are a couple of ways to do it. You can snowball, where you start with the smallest debt and work your way up, or you can avalanche and start with the biggest and work your way down. Both methods depend on you and what will motivate you to keep going.

Shop Personal Finance Books.

Check Your Credit Score.

When was the last time you checked your credit score? Yer, I can’t remember for myself either. Your credit score plays a big role in your financial health. So, you need to check your credit report and make sure there are no errors or fraudulent activities.

There are three bank holiday Monday’s coming up in May. Use one of them to tackle this task off your to-do list.

Plan for Your Future (but not too far ahead!)

Spring cleaning your finances isn’t just about getting your current finances in order. It’s also important to plan for your future. Now, I’m not asking you to think too far ahead. Now is the time to assess the goals you set yourself at the beginning of the year and see if you need to make any pivots.

Could you up your pension contributions by a percent? Is there another savings account you could open? Now is not the time to make big changes, but small ones can help you get there.

Reduce Unnecessiary Spending.

Remember those bank holiday Monday’s I was talking about? Well, take one of those and dedicate it to running through the last four months of spending and see if you can make any cuts.

Cancel any subscriptions or services that you no longer use or need. Look for ways to reduce your utility bills, look online and see if there’s any deals that can be made while switching. These small changes can add up to significant savings over time.