Financial Spring Cleaning Tips
March 20, 2017
By Lesley Ridge, Campus Branch Manager, USM Brooks Student Center, Gorham
When the calendar says March 20th, we all know what that means-The First Day of Spring!
Definition of SPRING: The season after winter and before summer; A sudden jump upward or forward.
To many of us, the Spring Season signifies more sunlight, flowers blooming, spring break, or working on some spring cleaning projects. Spring cleaning does not have to be limited to household projects, decluttering, or being more organized. This is also a great time to spring clean from a financial sense.
A few Tips:
- Review your Credit Report. Take advantage of the one free credit report annually from each of the credit bureaus. Monitor your report, and know what is on it.
- Organize/Shred old documents. Reduce paper clutter and keep what is absolutely necessary for recordkeeping. Remember to shred important documents and not just throw in the trash. This will help protect your identity, as well as put your mind at ease with being more organized with your important documents. Many communities sponsor shred day events, so take advantage of these.
- Review your budget. Is your budget up to date? Has your income/expenses changed in any way? Take a look, and make some modifications. University Credit Union is a great resource to help you with your budget as well.
- Set up Auto Bill Pay. Spring Cleaning isn’t just decluttering, but also a great start to being more efficient. Try setting up Auto Bill Pay with UCU!
- Pay off Holiday Debt before summer. This is also a great time to look at outstanding debt and credit card balances you may have. Cleaning up debt, or consolidating, could save you money and interest and put you in a better financial positions for the rest of the year. UCU can also help with this with our loan products that are available!
Try one or all of these Spring Cleaning tips, and by the time summer gets here, you will be happy you did some Financial Spring Cleaning!
