12 TIPS TO DECLUTTER YOUR FINANCES

How do you know you need to declutter your finances?

Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

1. Do you know how many current credit cards you have right now?
2. Do you know when your credit card payments are due this month and what day of the month the credit card charges close for this month?
3. What are their interest rates and yearly fees?
4. Do you know what days all your bills are due?
5. Do you know how much money you have in your bank account right now?
6. Do you know what your net worth is right now?

If you could not answer or found it difficult to answer any of those questions, there is a good chance that your finances are cluttered. If you take control of your finances, you will have more peace in your life.

I highly recommend Crown Financial Ministries ( www.crown.org). You can find invaluable information on their website.

 Here are 12 tips to declutter your finances:

1. Order a credit report so you know what your credit rating is and to see if there is any credit card you could have forgotten about. Pay any cards that have outstanding balances that you forgot about. Then ask them to put your account status back in good standing. This will help to repair your credit.

Get your free credit report here: https://www.creditsesame.com/myfreecreditscore/

2. Close all your unused credit cards. Extra credit cards are not necessary.
3. Pay the balance on your credit card in full every time is due if at all possible. You will avoid exorbitant interest payments and will keep good credit. I use my credit card like cash, if I don’t have the cash to pay when the bill is due, I don’t purchase it.
4. Be a smart user of credit cards. If you have several credit cards, make sure you know the dates the payments are due and the exact date that month closes. If you have a big purchase, postpone it until the date after the closing date for the credit card you will use and you will have close to 2 months to pay the full amount without interest.
5. Set up automatic payments for credit cards.  I recommend you pay the statement balance but if you are not able and pay the minimum, at least you will avoid late charges on top of interest charges.

Remember this is a new way of life, stick to decluttering your finances and you will succeed.

6. Consolidating your debt into one credit card with a low or 0% interest may be an option for some of you. I know, reducing your total available credit may give you a tiny ding on your credit report, but this is about your financial health. This is about you, not FICO or Experian scores.
7. Create a money flow center or a place in your house where you keep track of your finances, where you have all the forms, I have shown you and if you contact me and I will be happy to send you these forms on an excel spreadsheet format so you can enter your own values in your computer.
8. Use the forms to keep track of all income, expenses, etc. as you received or spend.
9. Keep important dates marked on a calendar. I also keep the payment dates for credit cards and other expenses on my calendar to make sure that I have the funds in the account that is paying the bill. I use the calendar on my computer but you can use a paper calendar if you prefer.

• Go through the mail every day standing over your paper recycling basket. Immediately dump (unopened) all junk mail.
• Make your inbox one that contains only pertinent pieces of mail and empty it regularly. You can use this same practice with your email inbox as well
• Set up a rainy-day fund or emergency savings account, I recommend $800 to $2000 for exactly that, emergencies so you don’t have to charge it to a credit card and pay the interest.

 I hope that you can follow these tips I have presented here so that you will declutter and take control of your finances. Doing so will allow you to practice generosity in not only your money but of your time, treasure and talents.

God has called us to be good stewards of what he has given us.

In Luke 12:42-43

“ ⁴² And the Lord replied, “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. ⁴³ If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward.”

Let’s be good stewards of all the talents God has given us and we will receive a reward in addition to living a more productive and fulfilled life.

If you would like to know more about how to take an inventory of your finances and apply the above-mentioned tips to declutter your finances, I offer a FREE 45-minute Purpose-Inspired Living Breakthrough Session.

 Where I will go over what you would like to accomplish in your finances, and we'll see if you are a good fit for my coaching program. To book your free session, click this link now:  

 <<Living with Purpose Breakthrough Session>>

 I'm looking forward to hearing from you!