Spring has officially sprung, although you may not have noticed from your spot indoors. But trust Mother Nature to do her job. While you’re stuck inside, the crocuses have bloomed and the robins are still chirping.
You may not be enjoying these signs of spring up close, but every storm cloud has a silver lining. With all this extra time on your hands, you can finally get to enjoy those hobbies you have suppressed or doing those chores you’ve been avoiding.
So, while you are utilizing the spring time or even the lockdown to get down to some gardening, or bringing out the hidden artist in you, or for that matter, catching up on all the sleep you have missed out on over the past 10 years, there is something else that can use your attention – your finances.
It goes without saying that sorting and cleaning up your finances requires time and a lot of mental energy. These things combined call for motivation to sit down and get busy with this tedious task. But, get busy you must!
Money saved is money earned, so goes the oldest cliche in human history. Springs is the time of the year when you should start to take this cliche seriously and ponder over how you can manage your money better.
Whether it’s managing your budget better or altering your spending habits, there is a lot of introspection to be done. But don’t worry about it, we have done that for you, that’s why you landed here.
Here’re some spring cleaning tips to help you check this task of your to-do list.
Dust off Your Budget
It’s time to start following a budget, now more than ever. It helps you control your cash flow, so you’re only spending what you can afford.
It also helps you prepare for emergencies and reach major financial goals — from repairing a faulty transmission to buying a new car.
The trick is to prioritize savings, so you can set aside cash for these future expenses. Track your expenses and compare it to your income to understand how much you can save without eating into money you need for bills. As a general rule, you should save 20 percent of your income.
Declutter Bad Spending Habits
If your cashflow is unbalanced — that is, you’re spending more than you make — it’s time to take your spending to the chopping block. But which ones do you axe? Perhaps the easiest ones to eliminate right away are unnecessary splurge items.
Things like takeout, video games, and other non-essential items don’t provide an essential service in your life, so pay close attention to this kind of spending. For those living on a minimum wage, check out these savings tips for even more ideas.
Install Automatic Payments
Late payments are an easy way to waste money and put your financial good name in jeopardy. If you’re behind on bills, your creditor may slap you with late fines and alert the credit reporting agencies about your tardiness. A bad mark like this on your credit report may do damage to your creditworthiness.
More still, you’ll likely accrue additional interest if you’re late paying a line of credit or credit card.
To avoid all this, go online to set up payments, making sure you pay the minimum payment by (or before) the due date.
But, if you have the cash to spare, financial institution CreditFresh always suggests paying as much as you can. This may help you pay down your CreditFresh Line of Credit by CBW Bank balance and reduce your interest.
Organize Your Taxes
Recently, the IRS has delayed the country’s Federal Tax Day from April 15 to July 15. This takes some of the pressure of filing your taxes for at least a few months, you should be utilizing this time.
This helps those that may need to see an accountant who’s closed their doors to flatten the curve. But if nothing’s standing in your way, filing it right it away makes sense if you’re expecting a fat return.
Give Your Finances a Good Scrub
Good hygiene is a big theme this spring as people around the world wash their hands and keep their fingers away from their faces. But in all the cleaning, don’t forget your finances. Take advantage of your time indoors to give your finances a good scrub.
Conclusion
Now that you have carefully read what we had to say (we hope you didn’t just skim through the content, did you?), it’s about time you get down to practicing it. We cannot overstate the importance of having your finances in order at all times.
But when you talk specifically of the times that we are facing, the risks such as loss of job, unpredictable market, crashing economies are the side effects of the current outbreak, And this make sit even more important for you to scrub your finances and take all the possible measures to organize your budget in a way that serves you well in these tough times.
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