Whether you’re a business person, or just someone who is trying to figure out how much disposable income they have after bills and taxes, it can be difficult to get your finances in order. Luckily for people in business, a lot of them have accountants to do it for them, but what about everyone else and those business folk who don’t? It’s always a good idea to get your finances in order, because you never know what’s coming around the corner. For example, you could need to pay out a large sum for a home repair, or you could be making to look a big asset investment in the future. Regardless of who you are, and why you’ve come to the conclusion you need to be better organised with money, here is how you can get your finances in order.
Commit to It
In the same way that we buy any house companies commit to their namesake, to get your finances in order successfully, you need to commit to the cause also. Being committed is more than just giving it a go – it’s having a plan, putting it in action, and not allowing yourself to become distracted from the end goal. If you don’t have this attitude when trying to become financially organised, there’s a fairly high chance you’ll get sick and give up half way. Maths isn’t fun for everyone, after all.
Order Yourself a Credit Report
A lot of the time, people don’t take any notice of credit reports until they have a reason to, such as being rejected for credit. A lot of the time, it’s not even realised that it’s really easy to get them, and you can even view them online nowadays. The beauty of technology!
Your credit history follows you around, and therefore it ends up playing a big role in your life, even when you’re not thinking about it. It’s likely to affect things both financially big and small, from taking out a phone contract to investing in property. This is why it’s a good idea to keep track of your credit report, and ensure that it’s positive! If not, you could look back on the opportunity to do so regrettably in the long run. If you can, review it once a year.
Gather All of Your Financial Paperwork
Look at all of the finances you’re paying out at current. This could be phone bills, grocery store receipts, credit card bills, bank statements – anything that has financial information on it that’s directly relevant to you, especially if it’s something you have to pay out on a monthly or yearly basis.
This is how you can figure out which outgoings are absolutely necessary, and figure out where it is you can cut back. You might be surprised to find an old gym membership you’d long forgotten about and no longer use, that’s taking money out of your account each month. It might not seem like a lot, but all of these things add up very quickly.
Reduce Your Debt
If you’re unfortunate enough to have gotten into any debt, before you can properly sort your finances out at all, you have to look into paying this off.
If it’s an expensive debt that you can’t afford to pay off upfront, it really doesn’t matter if you’re paying a small amount weekly or monthly until you’ve made up the figure you owe. It might take you months or years to achieve, but the fact you’re seen to be making an effort to regularly pay off your debts stands you in better stead on your financial records. Of course it’s better not to get into debt in the first place, and if you can pay it off in one go don’t hesitate too, but don’t bury your head in the sand! Any financial effort to paying off debt, is good financial effort.
Create a Budget – and Stick to it!
Last but not at all least, the one thing we all fear we will be advised – create a budget and stick to it.
Although there is nothing bad about having a budget at all! It’s the simple act of working out your incomings, outgoings and disposable income, figuring out where you can cut back and save and sticking to it. Believe it or not, it won’t impact your living as much as you think. In the long run, it will however, put you in a better financial situation – and in the short term you’ll be a lot more organised in your money matters.
