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What does your wallet look like? Is it chock a block full of old receipts, credit cards, photos, store charge cards or is it neat and tidy?
Believe it or not, the state of your wallet can determine how well you manage your finances. Neat and ordered wallets generally belong to people who are quite good with their money and wallets that are about 10 inches thick and full of everything except cash show definite signs of being unorganised and possibly out of control.
Having an orderly wallet can actually save you money and in some cases it could save you up around $100 a month. All you have to do is :
1. Remove your receipts - your wallet should never be used as storage. File your receipts as often as you can in an envelope and keep them in a safe place as you may need them for proof of purchase to exchange or refund things. Potential Saving - Probably up to $120 a year (or $10 a month) in lost receipts on unwanted purchases.
2. Remove the plastic - you only need to carry around a few key pieces of plastic in your wallet - Your drivers licence, Medicare or Medical Card, One Credit/Debit Card and possibly a security ID card for work. Get rid of the Store Cards (they will only tempt you to spend), frequent flyer cards (how often do you book a flight?) and your old drivers licences (put these in your photo album for a good laugh in a few years time!). Most of all get rid of all your credit cards except one. Potential Saving - If you cut up your credit cards you could save about $20 per month (per card) year on annual fees and the extra interest payments. By removing your store cards you will also reduce the risk of someone else racking up a tidy sum if you should lose your wallet.
3. Put your notes in order - Take a few moments each day to re arrange the notes in your wallet. Make sure that they are in order (ie $5, $10, $20, $50 etc) and are up the right way. This will help you stay in touch with how much money you have. Potential saving - you will start to spend only the smaller notes first meaning that you will begin to watch your spending more - the first step to good money management. Potential saving $50 a month.
4. Remove loose coins - At the end or each day remove all your coins and put them in a safe place. After you get say $20 dollars in $2 coins and $10 in $1 coins take them to your nearest shop and change it into notes! This way you convert often annoying change back into notes so that you can either us it as spending money or deposit them into the bank. Potential saving - Not much dollar wise but you help the shopkeeper with loose change you won't have to pay the $20 odd dollars in fees for the bank to count your loose change.
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