Do you feel like your finances easily get away from you? Life can get so busy and we can oftentimes neglect the things we need to give the most attention to…our finances being one of them. Having organized finances does take work. It means setting up a system and then maintaining it each month so that everything runs smoothly. There are a few systems you can set up now to help you maintain organized finances in the future.
If you are struggling to keep you finances in check, then try implementing these 5 tips!
How to Setup Your Organized Finances
1. Create a Budget
The most important thing you can do to keep your finances more organized is to actually sit down and create a budget. Until you have things written down on paper with a purpose, your finances will not be organized.
If you are struggling to create a budget that works for you, I encourage you to check out my 2018 budget binder here. You can learn all about how I set it up in this post and you can purchase the entire kit for yourself right now for just $7!
UPDATE: NOW YOU CAN GRAB THE UPDATED 2019 BUDGET BINDER HERE!
2. Set Up a Bill Paying System
This does NOT need to be elaborate. For my family, the majority of our bills are paid online. I file e-statements in my email account for 1 year. If I receive a paper statement, it get’s filed in the monthly categories in my filing cabinet. You can read more about how I organize our filing cabinet here.
If I have to write a check in order to pay a bill (which only happens about twice a month), then I pay it AS SOON as it comes in the mail. The very minute I bring it into my house I write out the check, put it back in the envelope, add a stamp and set it on our shoe cabinet to go out the next day. By doing this, we never have a stack of bills that need to be paid and we NEVER have late fees. You can read more about our entire paper organization system in this week’s new post here!
3. Interlink Your Bank Accounts
We do all of our banking through a local credit union and I couldn’t be happier with our experience there. We don’t have any fees or charges for transferring money from one account to another. Plus all of our checking accounts and savings accounts are interlinked. I can very easily go online and transfer money from one account to another in about 15 seconds!
If it’s a big hassle for you to transfer money to your savings account or sinking funds, chances are you aren’t going to do it. But I can promise you that swiping your debit card is as easy as pie. So what’s going to happen? Your money will slowly seep out of your account without any rhyme or reason. Instead, make things simple for yourself and interlink your bank accounts so you can save more and prepare for the future!
4. Utilize Sinking Funds
Sinking funds have seriously been the biggest game changer in our budget by far. (That’s why I made sure to make them such a big part of the 2019 Budget Binder this year!!) By setting aside money into separate checking and savings accounts for larger purchases that we make throughout the year, we no longer have to “work things in” when things come up.
We keep all smaller sinking funds in a secondary checking account. This way we can use a debit card or a check to easily use the money from a specific fund when needed. Larger sinking funds (a car savings for example) are kept in a separate savings account.
5. Use a CASH BUDGET in Areas You Tend to Overspend
You might be wondering how using a cash budget keeps us more organized…but it’s seriously made things so much easier! I take out cash every two weeks and separate the money in my wallet using labeled binder clips. This way I always know what money I have and what it’s designated for! I don’t like carrying around a ton of money, so sometimes I’ll keep part of it at home. But at any given time I might have money for groceries, personal spending, out to eat, family activities, or date night in my wallet. I love this system because when we have money in a specific category, it gives us permission to spend without wondering if we actually have room in our budget for it!