Manage Your Personal Money in 9 Effortless Steps

These easy tips can assist you simplify your time, manage your finances, and decrease the strain of personal finacial matters.

 

Make just ONE file or box for all bills you get every month.

When the bills come, make sure they go in one file, box or drawer.  Lost bills can be a major reason of surplus late fees and can hurt your credit rating.  Keep a suitable sized area as per the amount of bills you get every month.

 

Pay Your Bills on Time, in a schedule.  

Bill paying can be made easy if it's done at planned times during the month.  Depending on how many bills you get, you can have set times each month when none of your bills will be delayed.  If you're paying bills as you receive them, chances are you're spending too much time in front of the checkbook. 

 

Read Your Credit Card Statements

Credit cards are infamous for using low interest as enticement for new customers then changing to higher rates after a few months.  Make a practice of reading your statements cautiously to see what interest rate you are paying each month and if any extra transaction fees have been applied.  If the rate increases or a transaction fee appears on your statement, a simple call to the credit card company can oftentimes be beneficial in resolving the matter.  If not, try to change your money to a better lower rate.

 

Take Advantage of Automatic Payments

A good number banks offer a way to automatically deduct funds from your account to pay creditors.  In return, these creditors frequently offer a lesser interest rate when you sign up for ‘auto pay’ payment alternative because they obtain their money quicker and on-time.  Just make certain you record the deduction when the automatic payment is scheduled or you run the risk of bouncing other payment checks.

 

Sign up for Direct Deposit

A good number of employers are now having direct deposit facility or are getting it soon.  On salary day, the amount of your paycheck arrives in your account and is readily available. 

 

Get Overdraft Protection

Many banks have a service where, if you run the risk of bouncing a check, the money will come from another source like a savings, money market, or credit card so the bouncing a check may be avoided

 

Cancel Your Unused Credit Cards and Bank Accounts

Whether it's a credit card or bank account, write a letter requesting that the account is formally closed.  Not only will this improve your credit score, it is a useful way to avoid money from being scattered all over the place. 

 

Consolidate Your Accounts

Keeping you money in fewer places eliminates all of the speculation involved and reduces any changes of financial errors. If you have several credit card accounts with outstanding balances, try to combine them into one.  Be careful and check the balance transfer interest rates and one-time fees.  Make a list of all your open Money Markets, Savings, CDs, IRAs, Mutual Funds, and other accounts to see if any consolidation can be done. 

 

Establish Automatic Savings (on a regular periodic basis)

Create an automatic link from your checking or current account into a savings account.  This can typically be done through the banks and automatic amounts will be transferred over each month in form of a recurring deposit. If you set up an automatic savings deposit every month, your funds will begin accumulating faster than you think.

 

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