6 Personal Finance Tips For Forgetful People

Source: 6 Personal Finance Tips For Forgetful People

Your intentions may be good, but sometimes your memory ruins your best attempts at trying to save more. Being forgetful when you're managing your finances can actually be quite damaging. For example, if you continually forget to pay off a bill, not only will it result in penalty fees, it may very well lower your credit score. And lower credit scores will cost you in many ways, which include being charged higher interest rates and fees when you're trying to take out certain types of loans. For those of you who are prone to forgetfulness, read these tips:

  • Automate: If you're like most people, you'll have to transfer money to several accounts - savings, bills, investments, and more - every month. Make your life simple by scheduling these payments. Automating is great because you're paying off what needs to be paid off first and you'll never forget to move your money to where it needs to be.

  • Use Mint alerts: Sign up for a free Mint account to conveniently manage your money online and set alerts for reminders. Mint has more than 20 different types of alerts and will send you email or text prompts to let you know if you go over your set budget, if you're late on a bill, if your balance is low, and other important money reminders.

  • Set aside a day to pay bills: If you're not going to rely on the bill alerts for Mint, you might want to use a simple system of setting aside one day to pay your bills. Just mark it on the calendar and talk to the companies you're dealing with to see if they're willing to move the payment date so you can better align the dates the bills are due.


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  • Use your digital calendars: Spend a day on the weekend to organize your Google, Outlook, or any other type of digital calendar, and mark some important dates. Set days you want to review how much you're contributing to your different accounts, when you should check your credit score, file insurance claims, do your taxes, and other important personal finance tuneups.

  • Sell your stuff: Stuff can easily pile up in and be forgotten, so it's a good idea to reduce clutter and sell unnecessary items online on sites like Craigslist and Amazon. It's hard for forgetful people to remember what they have when it's not visible, so having fewer items will make it easier to see - and use - what you have.

  • Evaluate your subscriptions: Take stock of your subscriptions right now to see if you're really watching all those cable channels in your package or if you're making use of that expensive gym membership. Explore alternatives to cable and fancy gyms to see if you can get something that's more budget-friendly and that suits your needs. Forgetful people tend to leave their subscriptions and memberships open without bothering to cancel them, so start afresh by making a move to close accounts you don't need.


Related Content:
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9 Things You Need to Stop Paying For
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