New Year Tips

      I always feel like the New Year is a stressful time. There’s the pressure to come up with resolutions, advertisements telling us to lose weight, and a myriad of chores calling out to us to complete them. Here are a few tips to make the New Year a little more simple and frugal.

1. Clean out your coupons. The first week of the year is one of the best for coupons. There were five inserts in today’s paper! I clip all of these coupons and use this time to throw out expired coupons. If you don’t have an organizational system for coupons yet now is a great time to start. I use a binder and plastic sheet protectors but you can buy organizers like this one. I like that it is biodegradable.
2. Rotate your stock pile. I tend to do this automatically by putting new products in the back but somehow I always end up with things that reach their expiration date before I use them. I use this time to toss/recycle items that are no longer good and donate items that are close to expiring that I won’t have a chance to use.
3. Take a look at your overall financial situation. Look over your investment and retirement accounts to see if you need to make changes. Do you have an emergency fund in place? Do you need to update beneficiaries on your accounts? Remember, this includes not only checking and savings but also retirement accounts, investments, life insurance policies, and other insurance policies.
4. Organize your important documents. Keep a record of account numbers, insurance policy numbers, driver’s license numbers, credit card numbers and 1-800 phone info, passports, birth certificates, marriage certificates, deeds/title to cars and home, and any other important documents. The best place to keep this is in a fire proof safe.

A little bit of work now will save you a TON of time and anxiety later, especially in case of an emergency.