Quick Project Ideas
When it comes to personal organization, I’m pretty good at procrastination. However, with the turning of the calendar I appreciate that it is probably a good time to get organized. Whether it be the closet where you keep tossing miscellaneous items, or the kitchen junk drawer. Quick aside, I plead guilty to the disorganized closet. I think of it as a science experiment to see if I can form a black hole by increasing the amount of “stuff” tossed in there.
When considering one’s personal finances, it can be daunting to review and organize all your finances. However, even working on a couple smaller tasks can save some meaningful cash and motivate you to continue the process. Here are a couple ideas to get you started:
If you have a kid in college and they don’t have a family car with them, check with your auto insurance agent. If they were a primary driver of a family vehicle while in high school, and they now only use the car during school breaks you might be able to list them as a “second” or “occasional” driver, which could save you on the premiums. Just be sure to revert to the original coverage if they move back home or take the car to school.
Another item worth reviewing is your life insurance coverage. While it is a good idea to review and evaluate your coverage every year; if you can’t recall when you bought the policy chances are this is a good time to review it. Typically, the policies will have a one-page summary with the date you purchased the insurance, how long the coverage applies, and the annual premium. If the term on an insurance policy is expiring insurance companies will send a notification, but they typically inform you that the policy can be maintained if you pay new, higher premiums. If you have not had a major health event, chances are you can purchase a new policy at a much lower cost, assuming you still need the coverage. Where this can be particularly costly is if you were paying the premiums via an automatic monthly payment and you missed the notification of the increase. You may have been paying an increased premium for years and not noticed in the deluge of email we all receive. Bottom line - take a few minutes to review your coverage.
One other idea to consider is reviewing the interest rate on your savings or money market accounts. Banks will frequently provide “teaser” rates earning higher interest for a limited time, which they then reduce below competitive rates after this initial period. To make matters more confusing, many banks often have several savings/money market accounts with varying interest rates. So, take a few minutes to confirm what interest rate your savings account is actually earning.
These items can each be reviewed and addressed in just a few minutes. Then you can go back to the closet project or the junk drawer in the kitchen.