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Between managing retirement, paying bills, handling credit cards, saving for things in life you want and more, managing your financial life can get difficult.
Due to this, I am often looking for ways to make managing my financial life easier since at times handling everything can seem so hectic and stressful.
Making everything simpler and easier means that I can have more time to spend on other areas of my life, and also worry less about what I may be forgetting.
This is why I am creating this article. I believe that if you can learn how to manage your finances effectively as well, you can save a ton of time, have less stress, and focus on the things you truly want to in life.
Managing your finances does not have to be hard, and I want to show everyone that. Too many people give up and let their finances get out of order, when it really does not have to be that hard.
Below is how I manage my finances easily so I can save time and worry less.
I automate payments.
You can automate a lot in your life. You can have your paychecks direct deposited, you can auto pay your bills, you can even auto pay your credit card payment each month.
Even though I check through all transactions and expenses, I still automate all of my actual payments so that I never have to worry if something was forgotten about. Most of my monthly expenses are similar from month to month, so I can usually just check the payment to see if everything is correct or not.
Related: How To Simplify Your Financial Life – 12 Best Tips
I have one bank account.
Okay, technically we have two – a checking account at our credit union and a savings account as well there. I couldn’t imagine having more than that, whether it be separate accounts for different savings goals or if we had accounts at completely different banks.
Before you think “Don’t most people only have one checking and one savings account?”
That is not true. I personally know a few people who have multiple accounts open. To me, it seems like unnecessary work, but I understand that there are many reasons for doing this.
I keep note of credit card signups and rewards.
I have several credit cards so that I can earn credit cards rewards. In the past three months, we have actually signed up for five rewards credit cards (yes, FIVE!) and have earned a decent amount in free vacation and free cash back.
However, it does get stressful to think about all of this. Any normal person would feel stressed in order to manage this many credit cards, in addition to the ones we already have. Because of this, I have a detailed system of what credit card to use when, when I have reached the spending level so that I can earn the full signup bonus reward, and when I’m about to be charged for a credit card’s annual fee. It sounds difficult, but it really is not since I just have reminders set that will automatically remind me.
This leads to the next part…
I set reminders in my phone’s calendar so I don’t forget anything.
If there is something coming up that I know I will not remember, I will create a reminder. This makes managing my finances easier because I don’t have to worry about forgetting things or missing payments.
I create reminders for things such as:
- When it’s time to pay estimated quarterly tax payments.
- Renewing license plate tags for our cars.
- Paying semiannual bills, such as car insurance.
- When discounts and promotions expire, such as for our internet service, so that we can continue to get good deals on the products and services we use.
We have combined finances.
I know this option doesn’t work for everyone, and in some instances having separate finances with your spouse is a better option.
However, for us having combined finances works, and has worked for years. This makes everything very simple as we have less accounts to think about.
Our retirement is in a diversified fund.
Yup, most of our retirement is in one fund, specifically VTSAX.
It is a diversified fund, so it’s not exactly like all of our eggs are in one basket. Having everything in one diversified fund makes investing for our retirement easy in that I don’t have to waste a ton of time trying to beat the market.
Side note: I highly recommend that you check out Personal Capital if you are interested in gaining control of your financial situation. Personal Capital is very similar to Mint.com, but 100 times better. Personal Capital allows you to aggregate your financial accounts so that you can easily see your financial situation. You can connect accounts such as your mortgage, bank accounts, credit card accounts, investment accounts, retirement accounts, and more, and it is FREE.
Ways YOU can learn how to manage your finances more simply.
Of course, there are many other ways you can simplify your financial life.
You can learn how to manage your finances effectively by taking part in the actions below to make your life more simple:
- Start a cash budget. Dealing with only cash would be very easy as you won’t ever have to worry about making a credit card payment.
- Get rid of credit cards or slim down. If you are not interested in credit card rewards, then slimming down to just one credit card can save a lot of hassle and time.
- Pay off your loans. Whether you have student loan debt, credit card debt, car debt, or whatever else, paying it off will help manage your finances easier as you will have less debt causing you stress.
- Skip the paper bills. I hate receiving wasteful letters in the mail. Instead, I opt for the electronic version of bills whenever I can. This way I just receive an email when something needs to be handled.
- Create a budget through Excel. This can save you time in that you can easily make changes whenever they need to be made. It’s not as easy to make changes or have a flexible budget when you write it down as eventually it would turn into one sloppy mess.
- Opt for paying expenses annually or semiannually. Instead of paying for bills like home insurance and car insurance monthly, you might want to look into paying it every six months or once a year. You will probably qualify for a discount if you do this as well. That’s two less bills to worry about each month if you do this!
- Cut expenses out of your life. Each one you cut out means one less bill to worry about and money saved.
How do you manage your finances to make things easier? Or do you like to make everything hard?
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I do use multiple savings accounts and I find this helpful. They are all through an online bank and each has a designated purpose such as my personal savings, my daughter’s college fund,and the vacation account.I have set up automatic deposits to each account. This actually helps me budget because some accounts such as my daughter’s college fund I never touch. On the other hand when it’s time for planning a vacation I can clearly see just what I saved and can spend.
I think that’s a great reason to have separate savings accounts. I would do the same as well!
I love the idea of automating bill payments but hate the idea of handing control over to the billers to debit my account. Yes… I have trust issues. 🙂 Plus, I always transfer a rounded up amount to my utilities so that I have a credit balance and at least one ‘bill’ ahead in my payments. This is part of my emergency planning.
What your post has reminded me to do is check with my credit card provider to see if I can set up automatic outgoing payments for these bills. So, that’s #1 task today!
I keep my accounts simple, except for superannuation (retirement accounts) as I have a couple of those and keep promising myself I’ll roll them all together but it’s such a long-winded, complicated process, I keep putting it off! Better put that on the to do list, too, huh?!
Great post, thanks Michelle!
Thanks Diane! 🙂
Great post Michelle! I do a lot of these things as well and noticed that after implementing them it was so much easier to run my whole financial life. I definitely love automated payments.
Thanks!
Yes, same here!
I have 3 checking accounts, one local so I can deposit paper checks, which I still get from one of my employers. One is so I can do person to person payments for my commercial building. I can get rent and pay the holder of the mortgage on the same day, which I can’t do from my local bank. The other is to get a bonus for opening and account and I will cancel that one as soon as I have had it open long enough to get the bonus. A bit confusing on the surface, but they all have a purpose.
I think that makes complete sense to have multiple accounts. All great reasons!
I only have 2 automated. For some reason I enjoy paying them myself. I also use mint.com which helps me a lot. As far as accounts I have 5. I have a regular checking and savings, my travel acct, my safety acct and a “retirement” account.
A few people today said they enjoy paying bills themselves, so you are not alone 🙂
I travel internationally for my work – mostly to Africa and other developing countries. I have a separate checking account which I keep a maximum of $500 which I use for traveling. Lowers the risk of losing large sums of cash if my check card (or number) is stolen or ATM theft which is common in many places.
I think that makes plenty sense. I would do the same thing!
Autopay is a key for me. As well as BillPay, writing a check online. If it was not for Autopay, my credot score would be about 3.
It’s hard enough to pay bills, let alone remembering when to pay them…
I agree!
VTSAX! That’s my favorite fund as well 🙂
Yay! 🙂
I have a checking and savings account for my business and then a checking account for myself and 10 savings accounts. I use these accounts for various things – one is for my car insurance, another for home insurance, another for emergencies, one for vacations, etc.
For me, keeping everything separate works for me. I know I could combine them all into one savings account and it would save me a few minutes at the end of the month when I am balancing everything out, but the separation works for me, so I do it. I can’t really explain it any other way.
I think if something works, then by all means do it. Personally, that would give me a headache haha! 🙂
These are some great time and money saving tips. I use several of these, but my personal favorites include keeping track of important dates, utilizing auto-pay when possible, using excel to track our budget/spending, and of course, paying off debt! I think these things really make a big difference.
Thanks Jessica!
I love automated payments and transfers! I have like 5+ different bank accounts for different checking and savings goals, but everything is automated to come out of one checking account. I am also mildly obessed with Excel spreadsheets! 🙂
Sounds like you have a good setup. Good job!
Agreed–simpler is better! Streamlining your financials can help you spend more time enjoying the enjoyable things in life…unless, of course, you REALLY enjoy managing your finances! 🙂
Very useful tips in this post, Michelle!
Thanks! 🙂
I actually have 12 bank accounts, but 10 of them are with an online bank, while the other two are a savings and a checking account with a bricks and mortar bank.
For me, this serves as sort of a digital version of the envelope system for budgeting. Each online account has a nickname for a particular type of expense, such as home repairs or health care expenses. It’s easy to transfer money to and from my bricks and mortar bank to those various Internet banking accounts.
As a freelance writer, my income varies from month to month, but I set an annual budget for various types of expenses. Over the course of the year, all of those accounts get fully funded, but the amounts that go in from one month to another vary. The list of online bank accounts lets me know how well I’m doing throughout the year when it comes to deposits and withdrawals for various types of expenses.
This might not work for everyone, but I like it.
I think this makes plenty of sense. Sounds like a good system Richard!
Great tips Michelle! Like you, I only have one checking account and I set reminders to pay certain things quarterly or monthly so I’m not incurring late fees. I have so much going on all of the time so reminders come in handy!
Thanks Athena!