Become A Savvy Shopper In An Ever-Changing Retail Environment

Sometimes the first step to getting your personal finances under control is organization. While this can mean creating a well-planned budget with key goals to meet, it can also be taken literally. If you’re like most people, you receive bills, account statements and other miscellaneous financial documents on an almost daily basis, so rather than letting these important pieces of paper pile up, try to control them with these organizational tips.

Eliminate Clutter

Financial success and loans According to the website, the first step to organizing your financial life is reducing the amount of paperwork you have sitting around the house. While most documents are important, there are others you can do away with after a short period of time. A rule of thumb is that you can get rid of any statements that won’t have an effect on your taxes, such as ATM slips, phone and cable bills and store receipts. However, if you still want to hang on to this information, you can enter it into an electronic spreadsheet before getting rid of the physical documents.

To further eliminate clutter, consider moving some of your monthly payments to online accounts. This will not only do away with a number of letters and statements from a company every month, it will automatically organize your bills in a secure database.

Secure Important Documents

There are a number of documents that you should never even contemplate throwing away, advises USALoansNearMe, Llc. These items include wills, passports, marriage and birth certificates, tax returns less than seven years old, W2 information, mortgages, credit card agreements and other investment statements, such as a payday loan receipt. It’s recommend that you take a step further and invest in a secure filing cabinet or fire-proof box to store this information. In the event of a disaster, there are documents that you will want to get to quickly and not have the sift through a sea of miscellaneous paperwork.

Track Spending Habits

While it’s easy to look at a bank statement from a month to see where you frequently spend your money, it takes organization to track your long-term spending habits. This is why it’s important to hold onto past bank and credit card statements and put them in a file or binder in chronological order. By doing this you will create a document that is very easy to examine to assess you spending and savings habits.…

How Summer Clutter Hurts Your Finances

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| finances

They’re not just eyesores—your laundry piles, overstuffed closets and messy backyards can have a direct impact on your wallet. Studies reveal that about 23 percent of adults pay their bills late and suffer the wrath of fees all because they misplaced them. We only tend to wear 20 percent of the clothes we own. And close to 10 percent of American families rent storage units to house their overflow of stuff at an average of $1,000 annually.

What’s more is that summer becomes a season where our clutter only grows. School is wrapping up and you have the kids (and their mess) full time. Fun distractions are everywhere, whether it’s poolside or beachside.

But if your spring cleaning came up short, ditching clutter in the summer can make room for extra dollars over the rest of the year. The American Cleaning Institute reports that getting rid of stuff you don’t need can cut back on as much as 40 percent of housework.

Dollars and Sense: Behind The Cluttered Logic

It’s not easy to let go of the things we own. Organizational experts say we tend to have an “I may use this someday” mentality. Old containers, clothes and small kitchen appliances are just a few notorious examples.

And if we don’t keep items for their function, sentimentality comes into play. Items like letters, books, children’s toys, souvenirs and photos often fall into this category. These things weigh down our closets and drawers because we attach our emotions to the item instead of the memory associated with it.

In these instances, value is relative. Your junk may be your treasure, but it could also be doing more harm than you realize. The National Association of Professional Organizers predicts that we spend about one year of our entire lives searching for lost items in disorganized homes. Lost time translates to lost money.

Signs That Clutter Is Costing You

You’ve sunk into the habit of late payments. Whether it’s a utility bill, credit card statement or tax documents, you can’t keep track of what’s due when if your bills get buried. The result is not only extra fees, but additional paperwork detailing those fees, which is piled onto your disorganized filing system.
You’re resorting to duplicate purchases. That specific hardware tool you bought three months ago is somewhere in your garage, but you just can’t find it. It may be missing, but you need it ASAP, so you have to go out and buy another. The financial consequence is you’ve doubled the amount you had to spend on one item.
Your unused items far exceed what you use on a daily basis. If you took one room in your home and added up the price of your unused clothes, toys, books, jewelry, electronics and other gadgets—what would it cost? Is the price of your clutter equal to some of the debt you may still be paying off?

Starting Your Summer De-Clutter Process

Summer provides a great opportunity to unload your clutter. No matter which method you choose to cut back on your stuff, you can reap emotional and financial reward.

Hold a garage or yard sale. The sun is shining, the birds are chirping and it’s the season for serious bargain hunters. The great weather draws more people outdoors and to your sale.

Since the kids are out of school, they can pitch in with the lifting and sorting. You can even involve them in the transaction process to help them learn how buying and selling works.

These sales also give you the chance to make cash that you would have lost out on from pitching your items. The financial incentive can also make it easier to let your things go.

Check out consignment. Consignment stores are always on the hunt for seasonal items. If you’re finding summer stuff you don’t use anymore, these second-hand shops will sell your items for you. As your items are purchased by their customers, you’re paid for a percentage of the sale.

Donate to charity. When consignment stores and yard sale shoppers don’t bite at what you’re offering, the need for your unused items can still be fulfilled. Places like the Goodwill and Salvation Army provide drop-off locations with convenient summer hours.

Not only do your donations rack up good karma, but your charity donations are tax deductible, which means more money in your pocket at the end of the fiscal year.

A Stuff-Less Summer

The only way to truly get value out of an item is to use it. Odds are when you have a clean slate, all of the “stuff” you thought mattered falls to the wayside and leaves room to enjoy the summer. And the more you chip away at your stack of clutter, the more likely you are to find an even better stash—a growing bank account.…

Americans More Optimistic About Financial Future

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| financial future

Many Americans may currently be in need of loans to help with finances. However, a growing number of them are optimistic about their long-term fiscal situations, a Gallup poll indicates.

According to the survey, 63 percent of Americans think they’ll be better off financially in one year. This is a marked increase from the 53 percent who said so in mid-2008.

When It Comes to the Past Year, Though…

Regarding where consumers stand financially compared to a year earlier, the poll showed a different story. Only about 37 percent of Americans surveyed said they were better off now than one year ago. More than 40 percent said they were worse off.

The percentage of Americans who stated their finances are in better shape from a year earlier is well below other marks in recent years. This is especially true when compared to polls conducted in 2018, 2020 and 2022.

Consumer Confidence on the Rise

Much of this data could be construed as negative. But a number of reports that have come out this spring indicate consumers appear more comfortable with their finances, with some even optimistic about their future money situations.

For instance, a survey by Discover shows consumer sentiment grew in October, with 39 percent of respondents noting their personal finances were “good” or “excellent” compared to September.…

Spending money is unavoidable

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| money

If you’re going to shell out some money, you may as well be smart about it. However, before you hit the store, remember that using a cash loan to go shopping is a bad decision. Instead, make sure an expense fits into your overall budget, and consider new ways to save.

As companies compete for your dollars, many are introducing customer loyalty programs. Businesses like retailers and supermarkets are adopting these methods, so you may as well take advantage. In fact, 50 percent of all stores claim customer loyalty programs are a key part of their overall business strategies, the National Retail Federation says.

Technology Is Working In Your Favor

If you have shunned social media outlets in the past, creating an account to take advantage of exclusive savings could be beneficial. For example, if you “like” or “check in” to a store on Facebook or Foursquare, this can trigger instant rewards and discounts.

Utilize Company Partnerships

While points programs have been around for a while, some companies have made them transferable to other stores with which they have business agreements. Smartphone apps make this option available. One popular program, Shopping so kick, allows you to take advantage of these unique business arrangements. For example, signing up and buying a pair of pants at Old Navy can yield savings at the ExxonMobil station down the street when you need to fill up your gas tank.

Don’t Go Overboard

While capitalizing on these programs can save money, if you use them too much, you could end up overspending and winding up right back where you started. Instead, try to be a smart shopper by laying out a plan of attack before shopping.

Before you hit the store, sit down and plan out exactly what you need, USA.gov advises. If you go shopping without doing this, you can end up overspending on impulse buys. In addition, you should shop around. Many different retailers sell the same products. If you compare the price of these items, you could save hundreds of dollars over time.…