Spring Clean Your Finances

Spring makes everything new, your money can be too! Check out these spring money tips below. The tips can bring joy to your wallet like April showers bring May flowers.

To start, we want to share a few lists of financial spring cleaning tasks. The items on this list from U.S. News run the gauntlet from tidying up your budget to checking tax withholdings to making a home inventory.

Our next list of tasks from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) focuses mainly on your budget and your credit. If those are areas of your finances you know are a bit cluttered, the CFPB’s advice and the resources they link to will help you clear them out! For the full-size infographic, click the image below.

The final list from Forbes includes some unique spring cleaning items, such as updating your beneficiaries and taking a quick video of your home, which was our favorite idea!

Now let’s dive a little deeper into some of the financial spring cleaning tasks you can tackle.

Creating a Budget

Have you tried living on a budget? Why not start now?! Check out these budgeting tips from Federal Student Aid. Some include overestimating your expenses and differentiating between needs and wants.

Creating a budget can feel overwhelming, and it can be hard to know where to start. Consumer.gov from the Federal Trade Commission spills the tea about all things budget related. Check out the details to find out what a budget is, what you need know and how to create a budget.

Specialty Reporting Agencies

You may already regularly request your annual credit report from the three major credit reporting agencies, but did you know there are other agencies that put together reports about you? This Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) article talks about these specialty agencies and the types of information they collect and report on. For the full-size infographic, click the image below.

Now that we’ve thrown in specialty consumer reporting agencies, you may feel overwhelmed thinking about tracking down and requesting all your consumer reports. Thankfully the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has put together a user friendly list with all the information you need to request the reports that are important for you right now.

Spring Clean Your Credit Habits

Have a hunch you should particularly focus on spring cleaning your credit? In a less than five minute episode of what Experian calls their Credit Report Report, they break down eight steps that will help you clean up those credit habits. P.S. They also provide a transcript of the tips if you prefer to read instead of listen.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) worksheet is an easy way to get started on your credit clean-up. It helps you think through your credit card spending and develop a credit spending rule to live by.

Cutting Costs

Reviewing your expenses is a great way to spring clean your financial life – you may even find some you forgot about! Check out these tips from USA Today to help you cut your costs this year.

Are you paying for subscriptions you never use or even forgot about? A small monthly payment doesn’t seem like much, but over the course of a year it really adds up! Business Insider has some tips that can help you go through your subscriptions and choose which to keep and which to cancel.

How Long to Store Financial Documents

Ready to cut down on the amount of paper you’re storing, but not sure what you can safely get rid of? This Forbes article breaks down how long you need to keep different types of financial paperwork and how to safely dispose of them when the time comes.

How to Negotiate Bills

If you feel like you’re overpaying for some of your recurring bills, such as internet and cell phone, you might be able to talk the company into lowering your bill. This article shares which bills are most easily negotiated and a good process to use for researching options and carrying out a negotiation. For the full-size infographic, click the image below.

Consolidating Retirement Accounts

Managing multiple retirement accounts from past jobs can be a pain. This FINRA article provides guidance on how and when you can consolidate those accounts to leave your investments in the future feeling a little bit tidier.