{"id":855,"date":"2007-02-19T05:00:31","date_gmt":"2007-02-19T13:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/getrichslowly.org\/blog\/2007\/02\/19\/how-to-organize-your-finances-in-four-easy-steps\/"},"modified":"2023-09-28T11:45:41","modified_gmt":"2023-09-28T17:45:41","slug":"how-to-organize-your-finances-in-four-easy-steps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/how-to-organize-your-finances-in-four-easy-steps\/","title":{"rendered":"How to organize your finances in four easy steps"},"content":{"rendered":"

You’ve heard that to take control of you finances you sould track every penny you spend<\/a>. You’d like to try this, but it sounds like such a pain. There’s so much paperwork involved. You lose receipts. You forget when bills are due. It’s hard enough making sure the bare necessities are tackled \u2014 who has time to track every penny?<\/p>\n

I’ve been there. My financial life used to be a mess. Whenever a bill was due, I had to play a game of hide-and-seek to find it. I often overdrew my checking account because I’d lost track of how much money I had. Eventually I learned that it’s easier to track your finances if you keep them organized<\/b>.<\/p>\n

To stay on top of things, you need to have a system. You also need to reduce the amount of information coming in; you need to keep all of your information in one place; and you need to process your finances regularly.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Choose a System<\/span><\/h2>\n

In order to get things organized, you need to decide what sort of system you’re going to use to track your financial information. I use Quicken<\/a>. There are many other computer programs that work just as well. Wesabe<\/a> is an excellent free web-based solution.<\/p>\n

You can also keep track of your spending with pencil and paper. People did this for hundreds of years before the advent of computers. My wife still<\/i> tracks her finances this way. There is no one best choice<\/b> \u2014 the system you choose should be one that you will use. You can find other ideas in the discussion about tracking your money<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/span>Simplify, Simplify, Simplify<\/span><\/h2>\n

You’re barraged with bills and receipts and notices. All that paperwork can get overwhelming! It’s important to simplify our financial life by reducing the amount of paper you have to deal with. Here are some easy<\/i> ways to simplify your finances:<\/p>\n