Did you know that being disorganized can actually cost you money? It’s true. If the information that you keep regarding your finances is not organized and kept in a dedicated place, there are a few ways in which you can lose money.
By taking the time to organize your financial information, you can stop losing money and even save time too. One important tool for keeping your finances organized is a calendar. You can choose to write financial information on your regular calendar or on a separate calendar that is dedicated to money related items. Writing down when all of your bills are due, as well as the dates which you must mail them can help you make sure that you do not miss a payment or get charged a late fee. Fees for missing payments or sending them late are one of the ways in which you “pay” for being disorganized.
Since organization is a very personal matter, the exact way in which you choose to organize your financial paperwork and your calendar of bills is completely up to you. If a system does not make sense to you, then you will end up not using it and you will continue to lose money. Choose something simple that works for you and then use it regularly to organize all of your bank statements credit card statements, and other bills and statements so that you can look at them whenever you have the need. Some types of information should be kept around longer than others, so educate yourself as to which items must be kept for how long and then shred items that are older than those which you should keep.
Once you have all of your papers and statements organized, schedule a time to review your credit report. You can check it once a year for free, so as soon as you do it this year, write it onto next year’s calendar as an appointment. Also, now that your financial statements are organized, look through them and see whether there are opportunities to save some money here and there by paying off a balance early or negotiating a lower interest rate, for example. Keeping your finances organized can enable you to know within minutes where you stand financially. This saves time and money, not to mention alleviating a lot of stress.