Blogs / Financial Planning

Dust off those debit orders

“The key to spring cleaning is to be ruthless! Throw out anything and everything you never use.” Josie Brown

No matter what time of year it may be, when we get the urge to clear out the clutter, it can be liberating to dive right in and spring clean away! Initially, a way to rid the house of accumulated dust and dirt after being closed up for winter, spring cleaning has become a cathartic and healthy mental practice too.

At SFP, we believe everything is connected; our money and our lives are equally intertwined, and whatever we find helpful in life will generally also benefit our finances. This too is true, when it comes to spring cleaning!

KEY POINTS

Budget maintenance

The ever-present spending plan, one of the most important financial planning tools. If you find yourself constantly tweaking your budget throughout the month, you are spending too much time on it. Work to simplify your budget into broader categories; it should be aiding you and not encumbering. Take some time to go over your spending for the past few months and identify any problem spending areas or areas where you have over budgeted.

Consolidate accounts

If you have multiple bank accounts, some of which you hardly use, consider closing some and consolidating the seldom-used accounts. And if you’ve been unhappy with your bank, now is as good a time as any to switch and benefit from lower fees or better services

Reduce account clutter

Nowadays, most accounts have a paperless billing option, which makes sense if you pay bills online. Not receiving all that paper in the mail can cut back on those daunting piles taking over the kitchen counter – and it’s good for the environment too. And, if you’ve got debit orders running for subscriptions or services you no longer need – be ruthless and cut them!