Introduction: What is financial clutter and why clean it up?
Financial clutter is not always visible or easy to identify. It could be personal or home clutter in your closet, basement, attic, or garage. It could also be a multitude of unnecessary bank accounts, a wallet filled with credit cards, or an outdated insurance policy. All of these can cause you major hassles as well as negatively impact your financial health.
Fortunately, financial clutter can be tidied up to end the chaos and provide you with a pristine financial plan. There are many benefits to identifying financial clutters and taking action to organize, simplify, and lessen stress. It is one of the fundamental requirements in financial literacy to streamline your financial transactions to maximize benefits as you reduce costs.
Here are a few benefits of spring cleaning your financial clutters:
- Take control of your finances and budget
- Simplify financial record keeping for year-end tax preparation
- Cement the practice of financial literacy skills
- Consolidate bank accounts
- Use credit cards properly
- Manage debt
- Reduce stress and save time in the long run
Think about how many times you have attempted to organize a closet, a garage, or a kitchen. Many of us feel overwhelmed if the task is too cluttered or we simply do not have the skills to separate, sort, and organize properly.
Not everyone is born to be an organizer, but many of us can acquire enough skills and knowledge to clean our financial clutter, thus giving us the opportunity to reach for financial freedom and security. To successfully manage your financial clutters, let's follow the following chapters.
Chapter 1. Which documents should I keep and for how long?
Chapter 2. How do I organize permanent and temporary records?
Chapter 3. What should be my guide to clean financial clutter?
Chapter 4. Which financial records should I review and how often?
Chapter 5. Strategies for successful cleaning of financial clutter