April 2025
Financial Planning

Spring is Here! Time for a Financial Closet Clean-Up

By Myra Alport, AFC ®

Spring cleaning isn’t just for your closet—your finances deserve a refresh too!

Let’s infuse some Marie Kondo principles into this financial closet project. If you’re not familiar with Marie, she’s a well-known consultant and author on tidying and organization.

Just like Marie encourages us to declutter our homes, we can apply the same concept to our finances. Start by asking: "Does this expense/account/decision bring me joy or serve my current life?" If the answer is no, it's time to thank it and let it go.

Here’s a fun way to look at it – tidying up your wardrobe and getting your finances in order have more in common than you think! Let’s look at their surprising parallels:

Decluttering:

• Closet: Removing unwanted, unused, and outdated clothes, shoes, and accessories (ie, garments from your former professional life or high school sports team).

• Finances: Identifying and eliminating unnecessary expenses, such as unused subscriptions, recurring charges, and frequent impulse buys.

Organization:

• Closet: Organizing clothes by type, color, or season to improve accessibility and reduce stress (helps too if you are color blind).

• Finances: Categorizing and organizing your financial documents so you can find them in a pinch. Keep your family informed where you are storing these records.

Identifying Essentials:

• Closet: Determining which clothes are truly essential and provide the most value (how many baseball caps can you own?).

• Finances: Identifying essential expenses (housing, utilities, food) and prioritizing them while minimizing non-essential spending.

Finding Hidden Gems:

• Closet: Rediscovering forgotten clothes that can be re-worn or repurposed (vintage is back!).

• Finances: Discovering unused or underutilized financial resources, such as retirement accounts, unused credit card rewards, or potential tax deductions.

Improving Functionality:

• Closet: Creating a functional and efficient closet space that makes it easy to find and access what you need (Marie recommends using shelves, bins and vertical storage solutions to keep everything off the ground).

• Finances: Establishing a system for managing finances that is easy to understand, maintain, and use to make informed decisions. Excel spreadsheets are acceptable. Banks and credit cards also offer tools to categorize your spending.

Boosting Confidence:

• Closet: Feeling more confident and put-together when you have a well-organized and stylish wardrobe.

• Finances: Feeling in control when you have a clear understanding of your finances and a plan in place.

By applying the principles of a closet clean-up to your finances, you can achieve greater clarity, control, and peace of mind. The Less is More theory applies to your finances too!

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