Smart Cookies

The average American woman is estimated to spend 55 minutes each day searching for misplaced items.  When it comes to our money, it is believed that at least 8 minutes a week are spent hunting for cash, cards, bills and receipts. Now, take a minute to imagine a world where you have at least one extra hour each week to dedicate to something you really enjoy.  This is the month to make it happen.  Your time is a valuable asset worth protecting. Here are four of our favorite ways restore order, save time and give yourself a fool proof action plan to stay on budget in the months to come.

1. Consolidate you online accounts. From credit cards and bank statements to mortgages and student loans, there is no excuse to have a cluttered paper trail. Get it all online in one spot. Check out sites like wesabe.com and mint.com. But also check to see if your credit or charge card offers money management software. For example Amex.com offers the Money Manger feature to their card members.

2. Get rid of paper clutter and store your scanned receipts. To keep our wallet and desk clear of clutter we like a product called Neatdesk. This little scanner will scan and organize all of your receipts and business cards into categories of your choosing.

3. Store your important financial documents and passwords on a secure online storage site, to save yourself the nightmare dealing with a un-backed up computer crash. We recently started using Orggit.com which offers free storage of up to 100MB for you scanned receipts and financial documents and a secure and central spot to reference all of your banking and online passwords.

4.  Store your budget on your computer desktop. Go ahead, click drag and drop! The simple act of moving your spending plan to an area of your computer that is front and center will increase your likelihood of referring to it through out he month and keep you on track