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Spring Cleaning for Your Finances

Thursday, March 13, 2014 5:46

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(Before It's News)

swiffer-cleaning

It’s March, which means that the weather is turning warmer in many parts of the country, and it’s time for some Spring Cleaning in preparation for summer. Like our homes, our finances tend to get bogged down with dirt and clutter, and it’s a good idea to clean house at least once a year.

What might a Financial Spring Cleaning routine look like? Here’s one example, based on what I do for my family with the addition of other tasks that might be relevant to you:

Review your will and emergency documents for consistency with any new developments in the last year.
Go through your receipt bin/drawer, and discard anything you no longer need. (Keep tax-related receipts as PDFs on your computer for easy retrieval).
File away any paperwork that accumulated over the last year. Try to make as much of it paperless as possible.
Adjust your W-4 using the IRS’s free calculator so you pay the right amount for the rest of the year.
Review your current subscriptions and cancel the ones you no longer use.
Review the recurring subscriptions you decided to keep for hidden fees and levels of service (i.e. do I need this premium service when standard service will do?).
Calculate your current net worth and review the year’s progress.
Clean out your wallet or purse–remove unused cards, receipts, memberships, and anything else you don’t use on a daily basis.
Close accounts you no longer use.
Make sure your home, car, life and health insurance cards and policies are up to date. Get new quotes if you suspect you could do better.
As the temperature starts to change, adjust your programmable thermostat to maximize savings.
Pull your credit score or credit report with a free service like Credit Karma or from one of the three major credit bureaus. Check for errors or surprises.
Walk your home and list everything that needs repair, replacement, or upgrades. Assign costs and prioritize the list.
Check the asset allocation of your investment accounts and re-balance them if necessary.
Automate any recurring bills, payments or transfers that are not yet automatic.
Check reward balances and decide if you’re going to use them.
Inventory your safe deposit box contents, take items in and out as needed for safekeeping.
Review how well tax season went this year. Set up systems that will improve and speed up the process in the future.
Collect your gift cards and make a plan to use them before their value expires.
Make a meaningful charitable contribution. Nothing welcomes in the renewing feeling of spring like helping someone else in need.