Featured Article 5 Ways to Organize Your Finances by Maria Gracia If you haven't balanced your checkbook in awhile, you lose your incoming bills before they're paid, or you put off filing your tax returns because it's just too difficult to get everything together, than it's probably time to organize your finances. Here are 5 quick ideas: 1. Consolidate your credit cards.  Rather than having a bunch of different credit cards, consolidate all of your expenses on one single credit card, preferably one that has a low finance rate, and perhaps one that offers cash-back or airline mileage on every dollar you spend. This can result in less confusion over which card to use, can give you a better idea of how much debt you're accumulating, may give you more back for your dollar, and you'll only have to worry about paying ONE credit card bill each month. 2. Keep pending bills together. As soon as you get bills in the mail, stick a Post-it note on the bill and write the due date in large letters (e.g. Due JAN 29TH, etc). Store all pending bills together, in order of their due dates, until you’re ready to pay them. 3. Organize your expenses, as you spend. If you keep track of what you’re spending each month, you can determine your monthly spending budget. As you spend, just record that expense in a software like Quicken, a simple spreadsheet, or you can certainly do this with paper and pen if you so choose. 4. Balance your checkbook monthly.  In order for you to have a good idea of how much money is sitting in your checking account, what checks have cleared, and any errors that you, or your bank, may have made, you must balance your checking account. It really doesn't take that long if you balance your checkbook the same day your statement is available. 5. Keep your tax-related stuff together. Before tax season, you'll start to receive tax-related information from your job, your bank, etc. Keep all of these tax-related papers in a labeled file folder. When you're ready to do your taxes, you won't have to search for the papers you need.