SPRING CLEANING YOUR HOUSE – WHY NOT YOUR FINANCES?
The proverbial spring cleaning season is upon us. While you are at it cleaning the house, the garage, the yard, the cars and sprucing up the gardens, it’s also a good time to declutter. Get rid of (sell on Kijiji) old furniture, bicycles you no longer use and stuff you simply no longer need. In other words, simplify!
While you are at it, why not get your financial house in order by looking for ways to save money. Scan your bank statements for recurring costs like memberships or subscriptions that you don’t really need and should probably cancel anyway. Cash in any accumulated rewards, whether it’s points or miles or gift cards have left over from Christmas. Gift cards can even be sold for cash via websites. Eliminate any fee credit cards for no fee, same with your bank accounts. Review your various insurances and bundle if you can with one provider to reduce premiums. Home phone lines and cable tv are becoming passe`. Perhaps it’s time to eliminate one or both? Big savings here!
Track your expenses to better understand where you spend money (lunch, dinner eating out, same with weekend breakfast out) and cut back wherever you can. Try using cash instead of a debit card. Reliance of debit card use enables us to overspend where we otherwise would not and if we allocated so much cash per week/per month to spend, and when it’s gone, no more spending.
Cut a vice. Maybe that pint after work with the guys or quick smoke with the girls outside at lunch is a necessary stress relieving break, but maybe it’s just an expensive habit that needs to be broken. A few cigarettes a day can set you back $520 a year. A pack a day costs $3,650. Just think of how this money can be so much better spent.
If you are having trouble saving, these examples of things you can do to lower expenses will produce some savings. It’s not too late to start saving ten percent of every paycheck, or realize the equivalent via new found expense reduction/savings.
And by all means make sure you are not carrying monthly credit card debt. Review your credit report once a year…we can help you with this and provide you with several debt reduction techniques to save you significant interest payments.
Want to eliminate a line of credit but don’t see how? Call us for a financial spring tuneup and a free comprehensive analysis of your debts and mortgage.
As our moniker says “We don’t just do mortgages, We change lives” for the better. We are not only mortgage professionals, we are ‘financial counsellors’ who love to help people reduce/eliminate the financial and otherwise improve their lifestyles.