With 2012 quickly coming to a close, now is the perfect time to get organized, including your finances. Gather your bank statements, credit card statements, utility bills, insurance bills, etc. for the entire year. Pour a glass of your favorite beverage, turn on some Christmas music, sit down and review your financial activity for this past year. Look at your cable bill, cell phone bill, and internet service provider bill to determine if you are paying for more services than you are actually using. Maybe you don’t need 2 Gigs of data use per month for your Smartphone. Maybe you are paying for premium cable channels but actually only watch Lifetime movies. Maybe you no longer need a home phone since you receive all of your calls on your cell phone. Maybe you will save more money by bundling some of your services. Try to identify opportunities to cut back on your monthly expenses.
Reflect on this year and remember your fiscal failures and your fiscal victories. Look at your mortgage payments and determine if there were any months that were paid late and identify the reason. Was there an emergency or had you used the money for more frivolous spending? Review your credit card statements and establish a plan to pay down your debt. Use this time to put yourself in a position to start 2013 off with purpose and a plan.
Put all of your documents in a folder/binder and label it 2012. Gathering all of these documents will also put you in a good place for tax preparation. You will already have all of your documents together in a file to take to your tax preparer. Just remember…when you get your tax refund…bank it…don’t spend it. This time next year, you will be glad you did.
Have a wonderful, joyous Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
Until next time…KNOWLEDGE IS POWER! – Dawn-Charmel
Reflect on this year and remember your fiscal failures and your fiscal victories. Look at your mortgage payments and determine if there were any months that were paid late and identify the reason. Was there an emergency or had you used the money for more frivolous spending? Review your credit card statements and establish a plan to pay down your debt. Use this time to put yourself in a position to start 2013 off with purpose and a plan.
Put all of your documents in a folder/binder and label it 2012. Gathering all of these documents will also put you in a good place for tax preparation. You will already have all of your documents together in a file to take to your tax preparer. Just remember…when you get your tax refund…bank it…don’t spend it. This time next year, you will be glad you did.
Have a wonderful, joyous Christmas and a Happy New Year!!
Until next time…KNOWLEDGE IS POWER! – Dawn-Charmel
