Isn’t it just nice to find some loose change that perhaps just adds up to how much you need for a little treat you’ve been craving, while you’re spring-cleaning or perhaps just shifting things around? It sure is and that same feeling can be recreated through a number of different scenarios, one of which is perhaps when you’re doing the laundry and you find a little bit more money that can come in very handy while emptying out the pockets.
Those are some of the simple pleasures of the financial side of our lives, albeit on a small scale and not really making a huge difference to our lives. Wouldn’t it be really nice however to perhaps uncover some significant sums of hidden money — money which could indeed make a big difference in whatever area of your life you might be falling financially short? I mean would it not be nice to “find” some extra money with which you can perhaps go on a family holiday, extend your house maybe or buy some stuff for the house? Maybe buy some Christmas gifts for everyone early (and hide them away really well), or something — it would definitely be nice to suddenly “come into some money” which you never anticipated having at this particular point in time.
It can definitely be done, but requires you to be a bit proactive. In the same way that you find a few coins hiding away in some dark corners when you’re spring cleaning, doing a little bit of spring cleaning of your financial affairs may lead you to uncover some considerable amounts of extra money you can put to some good use.
Make a list of your financial services (and each of their fees, costs and charges)
Yes, financial spring-cleaning entails taking the first step of documenting ALL the financial services you’re paying for and how much you’re paying for them. It’s really that simple, just list everything you’re paying for which has anything to do with how your finances are managed, like how much you pay on your banking fees (bank charges), how much interest you pay on your bond or vehicle finance repayments, etc.
Find ways to possibly save on those financial services
The most obvious way through which to save on your financial services is just by handling your financial affairs better. For instance, if you have two different bank accounts and each of these gets debited by the same creditor on different days of the month, why not organise to have that creditor debit you once a month rather and have them debit just one of your accounts so that you avoid paying unnecessary extra banking service fees?
A not-so-obvious way through which to save on your financial services is by going through all of them with the guidance of a claims specialist, or just with some information from them. What you may uncover is that you’re eligible to perhaps file a claim on a financial service you may have been paying for all along but never really needed, or one which was miss-sold to you under the laws governing financial services conduct.