How To Keep Track Of Your Financial Affairs - The Easy Way

Keeping track of your financial affairs may sound like an unpleasant chore and a lot of work, at that. After all, what does it matter, so long as the bills get paid? Although paying the bills is indeed very important, it can be helpful to keep records and to organise your receipts. It can also save time in the long run. There are several reasons for creating an account of your income and spendings, as well as tidying away receipts in an organised manner. Tax forms require calculations of earnings and an accurate record of income, profit, loss and expenses if you are self-employed. In the unfortunate event of a computer error on the other end, you ll know exactly when a bill has been paid and have the records on hand when a company thinks you owe them. This can happen at times, and records save a lot of grief here. Having receipts neatly filed away also helps when you need to make an insurance claim. Another benefit is that when you keep records and receipts, you ll always be aware of the state of your finances and if changes need to be made, they ll help you analyse the situation. Keeping records doesn t have to be complex, nor does it need to take up a lot of time. Accounts books are inexpensive, and you ll only need a simple one. You can even purchase a notebook if you prefer and create columns for income, money paid out and a balance. The way you keep your records is up to you, so long as you note down your earnings, your monthly expenses such as rent or mortgage, electricity, water, gas, insurance, telephone bill, Internet, travel and everything else that applies to you and your family. Records can be created on a weekly basis, a monthly basis, a quarterly basis or even a yearly basis. I recommend a weekly or monthly basis, because otherwise the sorting and record keeping takes up a lot of time, and receipts can be lost in the meanwhile. For most families, the monthly record will be the easiest, as many people get paid once a month. A handy bonus is that after doing your calculations, you know exactly how much money you have left until your wages come in again. This can help you decide your shopping budget, as well as how much money you have for extras your family needs. For the receipts, I recommend creating a folder. To keep the receipts from getting all mixed up, you could sort them according to week or month and hold them together by, for example, a paperclip. If you like, you can add a note to each bundle to state what week the receipts are for. That way, if you do need to dig one out, you don t have to go through a pile of them. Once you get into a routine of keeping records, it doesn t take up much time at all. You ll soon get into the swing of it and, as many expenses stay the same throughout the year, you ll probably find the process easy and straightforward. It can be truly comforting to know exactly how well you and your family are doing. This article has been submitted in affiliation with StockBee.Com/ which is a free online stock ticker quiz .