Finance Roll

If you have ever tried to get your self on the path to personal or business financial success, you know that it is a path that starts with organization.

Now, you may be rolling your eyes right now and thinking that this will never work because you are just not an organized person. Or, perhaps you think that the piles of papers and bills on your desk count as organization. Well, they don't. Not if you want true success and financial freedom.

What I want to help you do is free yourself from the clutter, foolishness, and mayhem that is keeping you in debt, broke, and unhappy from not being able to achieve your dreams or provide for your family in the manner you always dreamed.

So as to not overwhelm you, I'm going to give you three ways to get yourself on the path to organization and financial freedom. These are designed to be easy steps, but they are important steps. Failure to complete these steps will hinder your progress later on as you attempt to be more successful. So, do yourself a favor and do them now and avoid the pain later.

One more thing before I give you the first 3 steps for organizing to financial success. You have to want to do this. Not because your significant other says so, or your parents say so, or your roommate. You have to want to be financially free because, deep down inside, you are sick and tired of having the same things and not being able to move forward in your life.

Financial independence can be yours and I will help you get there.

Here are your first 3 steps:

1. Find all of your bills, tax returns, bank statements, etc

This is the first step because it's important to know where everything is. We cannot even begin to get an accurate view of your financial position until you can put all of your financial documents in one place.

For now, just take a box and pile everything in there. We'll get to the sorting later. But for now, I want you to know you have a specific place to put all of your financial documents. (We'll cover electronic documents another time.)

2. Get a large calendar or other reliable paper where you can place due dates

I don't want you to write anything on this calendar yet. I just want to make sure that you have one so that, later on, you will be able to record paydays and due dates for payments.

Soon I'll cover the inevitable gift-giving (because it's never too early to talk about Holiday giving), but you need to know that you can pay your bills before you start spending money on other people.

So, the purpose of the big calendar is to give you a single reference for all things financial. Keeping all of this information in one place is one huge step in organization and success. And it can't hurt to pay your bills on time!

3. Get a notebook small enough to carry with you everywhere

I'm sure you've heard this one before. But while we're organizing your financial documents and such, you do need to know what you're spending your money on right now.

In that notebook write down every cent you spend with a page for each day. Also, get in the habit of getting and keeping receipts (which you will put in your box with the other financial documents) including online receipts. Print those as well and don't forget to account for automatic payments when you record the money you spend in your book.

This is similar to what people do when they keep a food journal to keep track of what they're eating when trying to lose weight. One theory says that the very act of writing it down makes you think more about what you're about to eat, or, in this case, what you're about to buy.

Keep this notebook for the next 30 days. You want to make sure you have gone through a full 30 day cycle so that you have seen all of your bill payments, all of your debt payments, and all of the other money you'll look back on and think you shouldn't have spent!

So, that's it. Just 3 easy steps for now for getting organized: put all of your financial papers in one place (like a box), get a big calendar, and keep a notebook of all of the money you spend over the next 30 days.

If you do these things, you'll be able to see a clearer picture of your habits and how you can best put yourself on the course to financial freedom.

How to Organize for Financial Success
Wendy Stewart
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