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Tag: financial

  • 5 Ways to Manage Financial Procrastination

    5 Ways to Manage Financial Procrastination

    Did you know that financial procrastination is a personal goal-stealer?

    Do you often have countless plans to improve different life areas and circumstances? Yet, you constantly stall when it’s time to make money moves. Working to move forward on overcoming financial procrastination is doable. I had to find ways to manage my behaviors to be financially healthy.

    It was time to consider what to edit from my surroundings or circle of influence.

    Today, I was thinking about things I must do to fine-tune my family’s financial plan for the year. I had only one problem: I couldn’t stop playing a game I had downloaded onto my iPhone. Those bobbles and whistles had me captivated, hahaha! I told myself I would quit when I lost the last coin.

    But I keep gaining coins because I don’t lose(positive self-talk only). Finally, I decided to cut it off cold turkey and delete the app from my phone instead of allowing it to drain my time and energy—time and energy that I could use working on the family budget.

    Sometimes, we want to forget everything for a moment and relax or distract ourselves from those things that need our attention. Let’s face it: sometimes, that is what we need to keep our sanity intact.

    However, when we procrastinate on financial upkeep, we can find ourselves in a world of difficulty. Take, for instance, the act of overlooking or neglecting financial obligations, whether they are necessity items and services or impulse drags on our finances. Placing bills on the back burner, letting the mail pile up, or simply refusing to acknowledge that things need attention can result from many dynamics in your life. Still, the focus of this article isn’t to figure those things out but instead to make prioritizing your finances more doable.

    Take things in small bites. That’s all! Do enough to be productive while not turning the task into a whole gallery of things to do.

    5 Ways To Manage Financial Procrastination: Some of the things I choose to do to limit my stress and anxiety and to curb procrastinating tendencies over finances are:

    1. Take 5-10 minutes to check the budget 1-2 times weekly to ensure we are on track. If you don’t have a template, no worries; use pencil and paper and write it down. I did this for years before converting to doing it digitally. If you would rather have an online tool, there are many options, such as Nerd Wallet’s free budget tool.


    2. Tweak the budget if needed and refuse to feel wrong about doing so. Listen, budgets are living plans open to change as you see fit. Don’t let it stress if you need to adjust, add, or delete items from your plan. It doesn’t have to be perfect; in truth, nothing is. I see it as an attempt to organize my financial thoughts by providing my family with a roadmap or financial GPS.


    3. Check credit accounts once a week to ensure that there are no fraudulent transactions. One thing that helps here is setting up credit account alerts. You can set threshold amounts for spending notifications to be sent immediately to your phone or email. This feature enabled me to recognize fraudulent activity on one of my accounts in the middle of the night. I could contact the credit company and protect my credit right away.


    4. Write down what I want to give more time and attention to for good financial health. A friend uses a vision board to help her achieve her financial goals. This is great for people who prefer visual cues to stay on task. You can also use the notes feature on your phone to jot down your ideas for financial health. I set goals in notes and come back and visit them to see how I have succeeded or what I need to work on.


    5. Give yourself some grace. Managing your money can be daunting when you incorporate everything your needs, obligations, and desires entail. I’m constantly reminded of a quote by Aristotle that I love: “Bring your desires down to your present means. Increase them only when your increased means permit”. This helps me to fine-tune my family’s financial plan better and question my motives for spending, saving, and investing responsibly as a steward of my finances.

  • Financial Record Keeping [How to organize your financial records]

    Financial Record Keeping [How to organize your financial records]

    There are many things to do, but you feel lost on where to start. Understanding how to organize your financial record keeping can help you prepare for a more successful year than last.  

    In addition to the several apps and software that can help you with this task, there is much to say about good old-fashioned pencil and paper. But it would be best if you did what works best for you. The important thing is learning how to organize your financial records.

    Keeping your financial records organized can be a significant factor in managing your household finances. Not having these things in order can cost you time and money due to lost documents, records that need to be replaced, deductions lost at tax time due to poor record keeping, and unpaid bills.

    Don’t be ashamed.

    You don’t have to feel ashamed if your financial records are in shambles.  You are, very likely, not alone in this challenge. Adding one more can feel too much with all you must do daily.

    One of the hardest things to do to make our financial lives make sense is to organize the little parts of the puzzle into a whole picture. Where do we put it all? Using a

    The bills come through the mail, and what do we do? We throw them on the kitchen counter…

    Next week, we will get more bills and add them to the other bills on the kitchen counter.

    We freak out! Why? Because we do not know how or where to start. First, we need a place to keep it all. A document box could help corral the clutter. Or, if you need a more substantial or secure option, you could try an old-school file cabinet or locking storage option to file and secure your documents and financial records.

    Get Started Sooner Than Later

    Failure to get started is only one of the challenges we must overcome to manage better and organize our records, but it’s a great place to start.

    This is the year we will get in order and take our counters back from the overflow of paper bills and invoices.

    Let’s get it started today!

    It’s time to decide to organize your finances better when you find yourself scrambling for receipts for purchases you know you made earlier in the year—purchases that could help defray some of what you may owe the tax man. Or when you need important documents to get approved for a loan or produce copies of important business documentation for any reason.

    Often, we feel out of control with our finances because we lack control over our financial record keeping, organization, and station.

    Choose Your Method

    This doesn’t have to be hard if we decide to keep everything simple.  I’m talking about pencils, paper, simple folders, and a file box. Yes, I know this may seem antiquated to some, but some of us like the tactile paper and pencil or pen approach.

    If this is not your preferred method of record keeping, then there are options for you as well!

    When I used to write everything down, I used a larger version of my checkbook ledger as a template for keeping up with how money was flowing in and out of our accounts.  I had to be very disciplined and record receipts weekly.  This also meant that my husband and I had to keep up with those receipts in an accessible area of our home to work on our books.

    We did this for years, and I must say that although it was time-consuming, it helped us to have a very clear picture of what was happening with our finances.

    We kept file folders for medical bills, large purchases, workplace benefits, and insurance, among other things.

    This worked until we had children and more career aspirations, which meant more time constraints. At that point, we began using spreadsheets and other software to manage, record, store, and organize our finances.

    Time For Change

    Technology was changing as well. Gone were the days when we had to keep up with every transaction tediously while waiting for it to hit the bank. Now, debit and bank cards were outpacing the use of checks, and as a result, many transactions were instantaneous. Gone were the days of the nasty trait of “beating the bank” when writing checks before your deposits would clear.

    Today, debit transactions are posted within 24 hours of the transaction. This means there is no time to try to cover a purchase, and you should have waited until the money was available. Becoming more organized, while a time commitment initially, will make your financial life more manageable and attainable.

    With pencil and paper or by recording things on your computer, start here: 

    Steps To Better Record-Keeping

    1. Write down the kinds of transaction categories you need to keep up with. Some examples may be your deed, your will, tax returns, stock market investments, bank or financial institution statements, and receipts that you need to hold on to for an extended time to confirm particular payments or ownership. These are just a few things you may decide to keep up with.

    2. Compile the documents for the categories you listed in Step 1. This is the time to go through your piles of paper, whether in junk drawers, closets, or wherever it has found itself in your space. You can also go through your email if things are sent there, especially if you have decided to go paperless.

    3. Where will you keep these items?  Where in your space will they live?  This should be in an area that is easy to remember. Also, one that will not add to or clutter your space. If you choose a paper filing system, make sure to keep a shredder available so that you can fight clutter.

    4. Decide on your filing system. Remember, we said that our financial records could be organized or managed by pencil and paper, or we could organize them digitally.  While I started using the pencil and paper route, I eventually moved to the digital mode of record keeping. I started going paperless with my financial institutions and creditors. I still use files and folders. I use them on the computer instead of in a binder or box.  If you choose the first route, you must supply yourself with some things. File folders, labels, and a file cabinet or box.  Using a small banker’s box is an easy and cheap way.

    Or some other sizeable decorative box you don’t mind having in your space.  

    Suppose you prefer to use your laptop, tablet, or other devices. That’s fine. You can make a file on your desktop or drive with folders for the categories needed. You may find having a scanner at your disposal handy, too.  I usually start with a folder for the financial year in question. Then, in that folder, I make other sub-folders by category, such as “confirmations,” in which I send confirmations for payments that I make online.  We also have a folder for taxes. One for bank/financial statements. And one for ‘tuition payments” for our college students, to name a few. 

    I share access to these files with my husband so that either of us can refer to them at a glance.

    I also share the family budget with my husband for added continuity in financial organization. I do this through the Google Docs app and invite him to edit that document. This way, we know which accounts are available for different spending categories. And since I manage this app, any changes are readily visible to him.

    Everything doesn’t work for everyone. However, some of these ideas will help you cultivate your financial record-keeping organization method. Find what works for your and your family’s needs.

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