Time to give your finances a spring-clean — here’s a few tips to get you started

If you won’t necessarily be spring-cleaning the house this month, you can channel that energy into tidying up your finances instead.

Spring-cleaning your finances is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It’s the somewhat tedious and – much like vacuuming – unglamorous task of reviewing your financial situation. However, unlike the larger review that is part of your annual meeting with your financial planner, this is about the tiny, annoying details that slip between the cracks and are easily neglected.

Use this checklist as a starting point:

Clean out all the receipts from your bags, pockets and car. Compare them against actual expenditure. If you need them for fuel or tax claims, take a photo and file it on your computer for easy access later. This is always a good idea because receipts tend to fade over time.

Go through your bank statements with a fine-tooth comb. This is something you should be doing each month. September could be a good time to compare your most recent bank statements with those of six months ago so that you can review how your expenses have gone up or down. Look out specifically for pesky debit orders that are under R100 as they tend not to trigger a notification, so you could easily be unaware of them.

Sharon Hamman, a senior legal adviser at Momentum, compares this exercise to gardening. “Just as you might refresh a winter garden for spring by pruning plants to enhance new growth, it’s crucial to regularly revisit and refine – and possibly prune – your budget,” she says.

Elvandre Brooks, an area manager at Business Partners, a specialist financier for small to medium enterprises, says a financial spring-clean for small business owners would include a review of their company’s income statement and balance sheet.

“Reviewing these documents will give you a good overview of what your fixed and variable expenses are monthly and where it’s possible to cut costs. This will also give you an informed perspective on what your budget should look like for the months ahead,” he adds.

Review your insurance policies. A tedious task indeed, but it is worth taking the time to get competitive quotes from other insurers. Your current insurer is likely to either match the competing quote or to better it.

Daily Maverick reader Alex followed this advice from the Money Cents newsletter. “I read with interest the importance of having a fresh review of your finances, debit orders and insurance policies, which inspired me to contact my vehicle insurer.

“From paying roughly R1,300 on my car insurance, I now pay R753 just by contacting my insurer and updating my policy. Thanks for helping me save in an already cash-strapped economy,” she says.

Review your filing system. Clean out documents older than five years (unless your taxes are not up to date, in which case you might need to hang on to them).

Figure out if there are more efficient ways to keep track of your financial records. For example, there may be a useful app. If you do choose to use an app or the cloud, always back up, back up, back up.

Tackle your debt. Hamman says that, just as a garden thrives when properly tended, your finances too will flourish when you’re effectively managing your debt.

“Focus on paying off high-interest, low-balance debt first, and develop a plan to manage your overall debt load. By being strategic about debt repayment, you can free yourself from financial burdens.” DM

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.