It can be frustrating to see how messed up a disorganized person’s life is. They purchase a nice gift for a friend’s birthday in advance, but can’t find it when the friend’s birthday comes. They toss rotten food into garbage very frequently due to poor meal planning. Worse, they frequently miss bills and premiums, and end up paying late fees, have credit cards cancelled or sometimes end up losing their insurance coverage. Does that sound like you?
Remember, being disorganized costs you money. In fact, it can be a lot of money over the long-term. Get organized. Practice discipline. Here are different ways being organized can save money and give you a stress-free life.
Avoid Late Fees
If you keep your finances organized and keep track of everything just once a week, you’ll always pay your bills on time. Pay the bills as they come in or set aside time once a week to pay all the bills that have come in during the week. Often, a late payment is enough for a credit card company to raise your interest rate. You don’t really want to pay a higher interest, do you? What’s more, paying bills late may also affect your credit score.
No Duplicate Items
When you are well-organized, you are aware of the inventory at home. That makes you less likely to spend money on purchasing similar or duplicate items. You evaluate what you already have versus what you need. So, when you bring home something new, it will be an intentional purchase and not an impulse buy.
If you have some extras like books, coats, crafts, or sports equipment, you can sell, donate or give it away. If it’s a new product, you can send it back for a refund. Lack of extra stuff will make your home and closets look cleaner and more organized. You can even get a tax break for such itemized donations.
Control Your Coupons
It’s great to save money when you are shopping. You can get free or discounted food and other important stuff to bring home using paper or e-coupons. But most people don’t even remember where they have kept the coupons or forgot to scan their store coupon cards. Have a system for storing your store coupons (for example, in your car) and make it a point to use the e-coupons.
Well Organized Things Last Longer
If you don’t store things in your home or office properly, they are likely to get ruined sooner rather than later. Items may get damaged from being stored improperly, or you may end up having duplicate items. Losing an important item may cost you a lot of money.
Organized people store their important documents and other precious items in safe but easily accessible places. In some cases it makes sense to scan them and store them on your computer or in the cloud. Many of these items like birth certificates are irreplaceable and should be stored in a safe location like a bank safe.
Easy Access To Financial And Account Details
You can easily track your financial and other account details when you keep everything organized. When you know where your papers are, you can immediately contact your insurance, bank or brokerage if you notice anything unusual. That’s when you’ll cherish how being organized saved time and money.
Another way you save money by being organized is by catching incorrect or duplicate charges on your credit card. In addition you’re also less likely to have your personal data and identity stolen.
Feel free to share your own thoughts with our other readers in the comments section. We welcome your response.