Cleaning Up Your Financial Act

Almost everyone’s finances can use a little cleaning periodically. So whether yours just track a little dirt into the room or leave you wading hip deep in muck, below are 10 practices that will help them sparkle again in no time.

1: Know your numbers. Your income and expenses, credit score, interest rates you pay and earn, etc. When it comes to money, knowledge truly is power.

2: Keep it separate. If you run a business, don’t mix personal and business finances.

3: Know your type. Recognizing whether, under stress, you tend to be a spender, hoarder or avoider will help you keep your wits about you and steer clear of dysfunctional default behaviors when things heat up.

4: Don’t spend what you don’t have. Sound advice that many ignore—and regret.

5: Save, no matter what. Even if you save only a few dollars at first, what counts is the habit. The accumulation power of regular, modest deposits and compound interest over time is remarkable.

6: Stay organized. Physical clutter can be both a sign of and contributor to mental clutter. A mental clutter is never your friend when it comes to finances. Keeping your living and work space clean and organized saves time and fosters clarity. And clarity is always your financial friend.

7: Create a monthly spending plan. Mindfulness is a great asset in all areas of life. In the financial arena, it keeps you aware of disparities between income and expenses so that you can repair your money ship before you start taking on water that you can’t possibly hope to bail fast enough to avoid sinking.

8: Bank and pay bills online. The benefits of 24/7 access outweigh perceived security risks. Setting up automatic bill paying reduces your monthly investment of time and eliminates paying penalties (or having the electric turned off) due to forgotten payments.

9: Be card-conscious. Whenever possible, pay off credit cards in full every month to avoid astronomical interest rates and ever-growing debt. If you feel you absolutely must finance something over time, do your homework first and get the best rates. These days, many retailers offer 0% interest on multi-year payment plans for large purchases.

10: Find a money tracking system—and stick to it! Consistent action is more important than the system you choose. Whether you use Quicken, an excel spreadsheet or a handwritten ledger, being detailed and consistent is the key.

About djwlifecoach

I am retired from 40+ years of helping individuals and teams build lives and organizations they love. One of the great joys of my retirement from professional practice is having greater bandwidth to donate my professional and creative talents to support and promote animal and social welfare charities. During my 30 years as an organization transformation consultant, I served as a senior partner in four of the world’s largest, most prestigious global professional services firms. In 2005, I took a five-year sabbatical to find healing and peace because non-stop work had taken its toll. My recovery from burnout led to finding my purpose guiding others on their journeys. As a board-certified coach, author, consultant, radio host, Reiki Master and EFT/tapping practitioner, I share hope, possibilities and empowerment with the world. 111419 DJW Sid CH Pet Corner Photo ShootI help clients achieve rapid, extraordinary, sustainable results by connecting who they are with what they do, a connection often lost through stress and the sheer busy-ness of daily life. Courageous self-awareness and unconditional self-love lead to honest choices based on priorities that nurture you and those around you on a journey to wholeness. Decades in coaching, consulting, change management, organization development, human resources and mixed media artistic expression honed my business sense, professionalism, creativity, intuition, leadership and communication skills. The result? Practical tools that help you become more insightful, creative, committed, productive and fulfilled. Even the most dedicated and hard-working individuals can shift from frustration to a sense of futility when their values, passion, work, and lives become disconnected. One of the problems with not taking care of our health is that the effects of ignoring it are often slow to show up. We continue to juggle family responsibilities, work and finances until we lose ourselves, waking up one day 50 pounds heavier in body and soul—no good to ourselves or anyone else. I love working with people who are ready to take life-changing action to make their dreams a reality. At each moment, you have inside you all the wisdom you seek to choose your life and your way of showing up. Limiting thoughts, beliefs and feelings can block you from moving forward. An absence of love and concern for yourself can result in negative head talk that holds you back with discouraging messages about who you are and what you can do. By listening and caring deeply, I guide you in connecting with your own inner wisdom. We identify the way you’d like to live. We determine what’s blocking you and release you from the hold those blocks have over you—unleashing the positive energy that will fuel you forward. Together we develop a plan to move you closer to your heart’s desire. My books, blog, radio show and signature coaching programs help individuals and organizations harness the transformative energy of love to turn unexplored possibilities into fulfilling realities and step into their greatness. What’s love got to do with it? Everything! My book, Choose Your Energy: Change Your Life! (Hay House/ Balboa Press 2013) shares my story and the stories of 10 of my clients along with my signature Discovery Framework. For fun, I love reading, sewing, knitting, yin yoga, afternoon tea, opera and movies. I live in Williamsburg, Virginia with my spouse, Wilson Abney, and the cat who runs our life, Maisy Jane.

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