Amidst the hustle of tax season, March also brings the bustle of spring. With 80% of Americans planning to spend time spring cleaning this year, don’t forget that finances could also benefit from a refresh.¹

Not only does this allow people to check in on goals and the progress they’re making, it’s also an opportunity to save money for those rainy days. Close to two in five Americans (37%) say they couldn’t afford an emergency expense over $400, according to Empower research. 

Get the timing right

More daylight at this time of year can be a fun escape, though there’s no room to run when it comes to paying bills. Penalties kick in when people miss or make a late payment, and credit card companies collected more than $14 billion in these fees in 2022.²

It’s a timely reminder that avoiding these penalties is a step within consumers’ control. 

Keeping a list of recurring bills and when their payments are due is a great starting point and will prompt people to reflect on whether keep paying for all those services. Calendar reminders can serve as self-checkpoints, and setting up autopay can also relieve some of that mental load.

Free from the paper trail

Piles of paper around the house are another target for deep cleaners, but people should take a close look before feeding them to the shredder or recycling bin. The IRS recommends keeping tax records for three years, possibly longer if certain situations apply. It’s important to safeguard any estate planning documents like a will, trust, or bank account information.³

Beyond the financial essentials, a flood of mailers can be taking up space: 63 billion postcards, coupons, catalogs and product offers were sent to Americans in 2022, otherwise known as junk mail.⁴ A site set up by the Association of National Advertisers, DMAchoice.org, allows Americans to pay a small fee in exchange for cutting the amount of promotional offers. Prescreened offers for financial products like new loans, insurance, or credit cards are also mailbox staples. Thanks to the 1996 Fair Credit Reporting Act, people can withdraw from them for five years, using the OptOutPrescreen.com website.

Declutter digital stacks

Reclaiming space also applies to online emails and accounts. The Federal Trade Commission reports that consumers lost more than $10 billion to fraud in 2023, setting a new high that is a 14% year-over-year increase.⁵

Freshening up passwords for logins can pay off in terms of time, frustration, and identity protection. Password strength is a mix of complexity, variety, and organization, and a password manager service can help with those tasks. 

Investing some time clicking “unsubscribe” prompts within email inboxes will also cut down the amount of unnecessary inbound messages and, in turn, gives more space to the notifications that really need attention (like those bill reminders).  

Keep a clean slate

With strong habits in place, it can be easier to keep them going as the seasons change. It’s normal for finances to need polishing during the year, and making time for maintenance will help avoid accumulating too much buildup.