Clutter free money management

Most families are concerned about finances, and many of us don’t like to get into the topic nor have to deal with budgeting and money matters. This usually have to do with the clutter involved. When most people think about budgeting and money they visualize check books, account statements, tax records, stacks of receipts, a calculator, and the like.

There are a lot of steps we can take to streamline and simplify our finance management for our families and many of these methods happen to be green too. Even paying our bills and managing our money can be hassle free and environmentally minded. Here are a few ideas to green the management of your finances:

1.    Get a Software. Manage your finances with budgeting and finance software for your computer for a hassle free and paper free option. Quicken and QuickBooks are two popular accounting programs. Microsoft Money can usually be linked to your online bank accounts and will pull transaction data directly from your banks upon request. This is a very handy feature. In lieu of fancy software programs you can also use a simple spreadsheet and there are many free templates available, that can be customized to meet the needs of finance management.

2.    Talk to your bank. Request that your bank stop sending you paper account statements in the mail. Most banks now offer online reconciliation and account statements. Online statements usually go back up to six months and can be printed if you need them for any reason. Account statements can usually be emailed upon request.

3.    Request that your bills be sent to you electronically. Some companies may not yet offer this service but more and more are offering this every year. When the bills come to you via email you can just click and pay. The emails can be filed away on your computer if you need to refer back to them.

4.    Reduce paper and mail. Get away from checks and snail mail by paying bills online, over the phone, or through monthly drafts direct from your checking account. These transactions are easy and waste free.

5. When online paying bills or making purchases, refrain from printing confirmations and receipts. Instead capture an image of your screen and the receipt using the control+alt+print screen function. Then just save the image as a .jpg file using a photo editor and file it on your computer accordingly. You can also keep track of what receipts you have and their amounts on a simple spreadsheet.

Following the tips above will certainly help to reduce the waste and clutter when it comes to matters of finance.
photo credit: James Laurence Stewart