organize your financial life

You’re barraged with bills and receipts and notices. All that paperwork can get overwhelming! It’s important to simplify your financial life by reducing the amount of paper you have to deal with. Here are some easy ways to simplify your finances:

• Kill the credit card offers by using OptOutPrescreen.com. You don’t need the temptation to get another card. Besides, credit card apps are a huge identity theft risk.
• Take it a step further — stem the tide of junk mail (you can never eliminate it) using the Direct Marketing Association’s own mail preference service.
• Consolidate accounts where possible. Reduce the number of credit cards you carry. If you have bank accounts at multiple locations, combine them at a single bank. The fewer accounts you have to track, the easier it is to stay on top of them.
• Similarly, cancel accounts you no longer use. Extra paperwork from unused accounts just creates clutter, and clutter makes it difficult to focus on the task at hand. (But read ispf’s comment below: closing certain accounts can give your credit score a temporary ding.)
• People often praise automatic transactions. Does your employer allow direct deposit? Does your insurance company allow you to pay bills online? Can you set up automatic investments into your IRA? Automatic transactions make life simpler.

For more organizing ideas, visit: www.andreadekker.com