Financial organization relieves stress

When I was a little girl I always did my homework right after lunch, everyday, so that I could enjoy my free time later on. It was not because I loved doing my homework, it was because I really loved playing with my friends and I didn’t want anything - especially that guilty feeling for not having done my homework - to disturb my “free time experience”. But it really worked and I happened to be a very good student.

In this post I will try to explain to you why this old (well, not that old!) memory came to my mind just when I was reading this article by Jody Goode, an accountant living in Des Moines, United States.

Well organized financial information and papers, at home or at your business relieves stress. The main point is that you should do a piece of your “financial homework”, if not everyday, at least every week.The author suggests scheduling a time to take care of financial matters: “Plan to spend an hour or two each week attending to finances. Find a quiet place with a favorite beverage and take care of it. This is a great time to pay bills, balance a checkbook, evaluate a budget and establish a financial plan”.
Planning is fundamental; as you probably won’t be able to accomplish everything in one session, you should set goals and deadlines for every activity, create a task list and carry it forward until all the action items have been completed. Some other actions you can undertake to keep your finances under control are: developing a system to help you track your expenses, budgeting and banking (you can use a spreadsheet or, especially if you are running a small business, a bookkeeping system), establishing automatic payments for routine bills, paying credit cards and other obligations online.

With a little bit of planning and some effort in doing your financial homework weekly, says Goode: “your stress level will go down and confidence will rise as you become confident that things are under control.”

And as I experienced as a young student, I bet that, while trying to avoid stress, you will also happen to be a good bookkeeper for your personal finance or small business.

If not, you can always contact us for some advice.