5 Financial Spring Cleaning Tips
Financial Spring Cleaning
It is that time of year in many places where you get to open the windows and air out the house, start working in the garden and doing other spring cleaning tasks. Another great place to do some spring cleaning in in your financial world. Here are some places to get started.
1. Review your insurance policies
I just did this for our home owners and our auto policy. I was able to finally get back with my preferred insurance agent and save us $400 a year. Online insurance websites make it easy to get multiple quotes from the different companies and let you compare the costs. This is something I do regularly, even if you just call your current company and ask what new discounts they offer it can make a difference.
2. The chicken challenge
The guys over at CordKillers, a podcast dedicated to watching what you want when you want, started this challenge with their listeners and many of them found great savings. Just call your cable company and tell them you want to cancel your cable subscription, if you aren’t under a contract of course. Companies are working so hard right now to keep their subscriber numbers up that most people found they were willing to practically give away cable if you had internet service with them. You may be able to save yourself money on a large monthly bill.
3. Verify your will
If you don’t have a will, get one. If you have one look it over and see if your circumstances have changed in such a way that you would need to change your will. Wills can be done easily with sites like legalzoom.
Along these same lines, if you are the main money person in your household you need to have instructions for your spouse in case you die. I am guilty of this one and it is one of my goals for this year. My wife may not know where to find all of our money or how to claim my life insurance in the event of my death. I don’t want to add more stress to her in the event of my passing.
4. Review your budget
It may have been a while since you looked over your budget, maybe your spending habits have changed, but if you are like me then you haven’t updated your paper budget. Make sure you have everything lined up the way it should be. Look for places where you are spending more than you would like and think of ways to reduce those categories.
5. Pull your credit report
Take some time to pull your free credit report. Make sure you aren’t getting dinged for something you didn’t do or that someone isn’t opening credit lines in your name. You can dispute items on your credit report online and you should to make sure your record is clean.
What other steps should be taken annually to spring clean your finances?
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Jason administrator
Jason is the founder of Considering Stewardship he has a passion for helping people to steward all of their resources as gifts from God. Time, money, and Talent.
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