5 Ways to Streamline You Finances

There are so many moving parts to our personal finances that if you aren't organized or don't have a system in place for every aspect of it, you can become stressed out and it can obviously have financial consequences.  I've put together some ways to streamline your finances once and for all so managing them isn't such an enormous undertaking.

Create and Live by a Budget

Remember, a budget doesn't mean you are limiting yourself.  A budget is a tool to allocate every dollar to certain a purpose whether it's savings, spending, or something in between. I have a guide to be being on a budget that you can utilize to create your own.  Having a budget in place will help the rest of these tips fall right into place.

 

Utilize Autopay

When it comes to paying bills, remembering when everything is due can be a burden.  Of course you can keep this information on a calendar but what if you aren't looking at it regularly? And yes, you can set reminders but sometimes life is busy and you disregard them.  Having your bills paid via autopay ensure that you won't miss payments. Of course you need to have money in your bank accounts to pay these bills but again, if you are correctly managing your finances overall with a budget you should be ready to go once autopay is set up.  

 

Consider a Joint Account

If you are in a relationship and have shared bills, it can be a lot to have one person be responsible for paying them on time.  Once you own a house it gets even more complicated.  You don't have to completely combine your finances of course... I mean even I don't do that.  But having a joint account is a great idea for the things that both of you contribute to.  I set up autopay for our joint account so our shared mortgage and utility bills come out automatically.  This is also helpful because you won't have this money sitting in your main bank account tempting you to spend it.  

 

Use ONE Credit Card

Obviously you shouldn't be using a credit card to get into debt or stay in debt, but if you are debt free and only use it on regular expenses to get cash back rewards and pay it off at the end of the cycle, then this tip is for you.  Use just ONE credit card.  Stop applying for so many just because you get a one time discount at a store or because you think it'll be worth it to shop there every few years and save a few bucks.  Keep it simple. One credit card means just one bill to pay.  It means just ONE card that is at risk for fraud.  Of course you can have a second as backup...even I have that. But I closed all my other cards or let them close on their own from inactivity over the years. 

 

Setup Auto Transfer

If you regularly put a certain amount of money aside into a joint account for bills or another share in your bank account for savings or goals, make sure you set up auto transfer so you don't have to do it manually.  On payday you can even have it scheduled so your money gets transferred right away to your different shares so that by the time you wake up and check your bank account, the work has been done for you!

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