{"id":1377,"date":"2013-05-10T10:41:19","date_gmt":"2013-05-10T14:41:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myfinancialfocus.net\/mainsite\/?p=1377"},"modified":"2025-08-24T06:38:50","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T10:38:50","slug":"spring-cleaning-your-finances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myfinancialfocus.net\/mainsite\/index.php\/spring-cleaning-your-finances\/","title":{"rendered":"Spring Cleaning Your Finances"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Spring, I believe, has finally sprung! \u00a0Winter, while not real cold where I live, has hung on longer than normal. \u00a0Many ladies are now looking at this time of year to do the annual spring cleaning &#8211; hitting the baseboards, interior and exterior windows, carpet cleaning, etc. \u00a0Men, you are now looking to see how you can clean out the garage and\/or storage area to hopefully find your golf clubs. \u00a0Whatever your task list involves, spring brings about that desire to clean things up.<\/p>\n<p>What about your finances? \u00a0When is the last time you cleans some things in that area? \u00a0Spring is a great time for a financial cleanup too. \u00a0Here are some areas that need attention.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Get Back To Keeping a Check Register<\/strong> &#8211; I wrote about this in the last week or so and you can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myfinancialfocus.net\/mainsite\/index.php\/how-you-get-ahead-with-your-checking-account\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">find that post here<\/a>. \u00a0Allow this spring time period to get back in balance with your checking\/debit account and make sure you track and balance from this point on. \u00a0Stay intentional with your account(s) balance(s).<\/li>\n<li><strong>Review Your W4 Withholdings<\/strong> &#8211; Did you owe or get a big refund? Now is the time to review and make sure you are withholding the correct amounts for you. \u00a0Bring the right amount home from each paycheck and avoid writing a big check or getting a big refund. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myfinancialfocus.net\/mainsite\/index.php\/the-day-after-tax-day\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Make changes now<\/a>!<\/li>\n<li><strong>Dust Off the Budget<\/strong> &#8211; You may have strayed from managing to a monthly budget. \u00a0Now is the time to get back on track. \u00a0Clean off the cobwebs and layout your monthly plan. \u00a0Re-employ the tools that help you be successful. Find and fix the areas you are overspending in.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Re-Evaluate Your Insurance Coverages<\/strong> &#8211; Life, Home, Auto, Disability, etc. \u00a0&#8211; Are you adequately covered? \u00a0Do you know what you have? \u00a0Do you know what you are missing? \u00a0Get with your insurance company to review. \u00a0Shop the costs that you are currently paying.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Review the Status of Your Investments<\/strong> &#8211; You may not have what you would call an investment money or you may not have put money into your account in some time, but most of us have some sort of retirement account. \u00a0Whether a 401(k), 403(b), a SEP, an IRA or Roth IRA &#8211; look at where you are invested and make sure you are where you want to be. \u00a0If you use an investment advisor, contact he or she for a review.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>I never said that spring cleaning is an easy task. \u00a0But it sure is good to come home to a clean house &#8211; even a good, clean financial house.<\/p>\n<h4>How do you spring clean your finances?<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Spring, I believe, has finally sprung! \u00a0Winter, while not real cold where I live, has hung on longer than normal. \u00a0Many ladies are now looking at this time of year to do the annual spring cleaning &#8211; hitting the baseboards, interior and exterior windows, carpet cleaning, etc. \u00a0Men, you are now looking to see how [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,22,15,16,14,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1377","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-coaching","category-encouragement","category-insurance","category-life","category-planning","category-productivity"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - 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