Tax season is over and now is a perfect time to think about decluttering your finances. This will positively impact your mood, concentration, and overall well-being. While this may sound daunting, it’s a lot simpler than you think.
Below are some simple thoughts to help you get started:
Disclosure: I am not compensated by any of the websites I recommend and all information is for educational purposes.
Consolidating Bank accounts
If you have multiple bank accounts, contemplate the purpose of each one and decide whether consolidation is possible. This will reduce the time you spend budgeting, since you will have fewer accounts to review. Alternatively, you have the option of consolidating credit cards, but avoid closing them as it will lower your FICO score. Instead, you can set up a subscription on them and enable autopay for the credit cards. This way, you won’t need to do anything except for reaping the benefits of positively affecting your credit score.
Reducing paper mail
One of the easiest ways to reduce paper mail is to adjust your paperless settings on your accounts. This prevents you from crowding your personal storage, being that most bank and credit card companies are storing your statements for 6+ years. You just have to be conscious of which companies don’t, since you will need to save them yourself. This is important considering the IRS rarely goes back more than 6 years if you were to be audited and it revealed suspicious activity.
Another tactic with mail is to trash or recycle what’s not important immediately. Most of it is trash, anyway. Then set up a folder for the important mail to review. Later, when you get back to it, address it and file it accordingly. The key is to be consistent and it will become a healthy habit.
I have been doing this for the past 13+ years and it is one of my biggest strengths for keeping my desk clutter free. I follow a rule of having one accordion folder for the papers I need as a hard copy and I review it yearly to discard what’s no longer necessary.
Unsubscribing from financial blogs
If you find you are overwhelmed by financial blogs, this might be a good time to unsubscribe. Review which blogs you do not open or say you will read later and never do and then unsubscribe. If you have a fear of missing out on something, there’s always the option to subscribe again if you miss their content.
Canceling financial subscriptions
Canceling financial subscriptions not only helps with decluttering but also your wallet. Review how many times you read the subscriptions and decide if it’s worth keeping it. You may find you don’t read them at all.
Organizing your files
Organizing your files saves time and reduces anxiety, especially for tax season or, in the case of an audit, seeing that you would have all your information in one place. Remember to back up your files unless you use cloud storage.
Reviewing tax files and back up
Reviewing your tax files helps to declutter your storage and paper files. After tax season, go to the oldest tax year and trash it. If you file your finances by year, this makes it even easier to dump the entire file.
Mindful Reminder
Decluttering your finances provides a wealth of benefits, including being calmer and experiencing improved concentration. Decluttering in general increases self-worth, creates healthy habits, and boosts productivity. Consider what else in your life needs to be trimmed. You can start with a room in your house or rethink your activities. Maybe you are spreading yourself thin. Reducing things that don’t bring you joy will help you focus on the things that matter; therefore achieving your goals faster. Start a mindful practice of saying “no.”
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