Spring Clean: Your Life | Expert Tips & Tricks
For the fourth & final week of our Spring Clean series, we are talking about life admin & sharing our tips & tricks for tackling this area head on.
Once a year, it's always a good idea to look over your life admin & give it a little tidy up. To help you on your way, our Founder shares her recent to-do list she did for her own life.
1. Review & Change Things Up
For most of us we have a lot of monthly or annual expenses that are automated, for example internet & phone plans, insurance policies, utilities, entertainment such as Netflix & Spotify, etc. Now is a great time to look at all those expenses in your budget & investigate if you can save money with a better provider or plan. Quite often your circumstances might have changed within a year & you will be surprised how much you can save.
For example in the last month I changed my power company to Electric Kiwi (not sponsored) but the benefit for me was that you get a free hour of power every single day. I've set an alarm on my phone & have seen my savings accumulate just in one month!
I also called my phone / internet provider & asked them to change my plan to a lower one. I really like the provider I'm currently with, but due to changing circumstances I don't need the extra international travel benefits, or as much mobile data (since I'm at home 24/7 now!) so I didn't want to be paying for those extras each month when I could be saving that money.
The benefits of these small changes all add up.
TIP: Don’t be shy about calling your current provider and asking for a better deal. That one phone call could make a big difference to you in the long term & at the end of the day, they want to keep your business too.
2. Spring Clean Your Budget
Off the back of tip 1, now is also a great time to look over your budget in general & give it a good spring clean. How are you tracking? What changes can you make? What are your goals & focuses financially? Reflect, review & refocus.
TIP: If you own a house, you might want to look at your home loan. Or for others, it might be a good time to also look at things like your personal banking & credit cards etc.
3. De-Clutter Your Inbox
Over the course of a year, it's very easy to sign up to a lot of incredible brands databases. However this can in-turn leave your inbox clogged & become quite overwhelming. Use this week to go through your inbox & unsubscribe to any databases or brands that don't interest you any longer. Branded emails can be hugely beneficial - both for keeping up-to-date with the latest products but also from an educational side - interviews, advice & more, so make sure your inbox is kept open for those that you don't want to miss seeing.
4. Book Appointments
Looking at your diary, when was the last time you went to the dentist for a check up? or the doctor!? Time flies by & before you know it a whole year has gone past. Use this week to get up to date with your appointments for the next 3-6 months, especially in the lead up to Christmas. My Advice:
- Book any regular appointments you have up until the NY. For example I booked in all hair appointments & nail appointments for the next 3 months this week in the lead up to Christmas. You don't want to miss out on your pre Christmas colour touch ups because the salon is fully booked! Get ahead & lock those appointments in your diary!
- Organise your life admin & book your annual dentist, doctor & skin check ups. Spread them out over the next 3 months so it's not so much pressure time or money wise.
- Check your passport, car registration & any other bits & pieces that might need renewing - write down in your 2020 or 2021 diary what date these expire & a reminder to renew them prior to this date.
5. Organise Important Documents & Receipts
When life gets busy, it's easy for receipts to pile up & important documents to be in a jumble. Spring clean this area of your life & spend some time getting on top of it all. From filing documents & receipts, to getting up to date with your tax. Another great thing to do is review your Will & see if anything needs updating. And... if you don't have a Will it's a great time to start thinking about one. I know it's not a very nice thing to think about but add it to your to-do list & do it for your loved ones & yourself.
6. Stock Up
And finally, now is great time to stock up on those bits & pieces in your home you keep forgetting or avoiding! The ones you let slide for weeks. Go around your home & write a big list. From blown lightbulbs that need replacing to picture hooks so you can hang your artwork, to pantry items that are about to expire or have run out. Focus on organising all these little life admin things. Trust me, you will feel amazing once you tick them all off!