Take a Financial Day

Between work, school, family, and life, leaving our financial business to the weekend may mean it doesn’t all get done. Or, if we do have time, the people we need to talk with may not be available. If all this sounds familiar, then consider taking a “Financial Day” to catch up on all those financial loose ends. The two big tasks to tackle: Budget and Credit.

Budget

Check in on your budget – Reflect on your family’s expenses. Download our great budget-tracking spreadsheet to help with the process. It will allow you to itemize your expenses into categories such as household, auto, food basics, health, and more.

Automate your bill payments – Certain expenses will change very little from month to month. Since you’ve just taken the time to account for them, why not set up automated bill payments?

Credit

Check your credit report – You get a free report every year through each of the three major reporting agencies. Choose one to pull and review to make sure all the information is accurate.

Call your credit card companies – If you are a customer in good standing, you may be able to get them to reduce your interest rates. Also, challenge any info on your credit report that doesn’t look right.

Call your cable/mobile/internet providers – Increased competition means that these companies want to keep you as a customer, so they may be willing to offer you a better deal. And again, challenge any incorrect info you find from your credit report.

This is certainly enough for a full day, so be sure to have a big breakfast, and break for lunch. You’ll need it!