INDIANAPOLIS — Spring weather signals reset season - for everything from your wardrobe to spring cleaning. Cherie Lowe, the Queen of Free, suggests you take a hard look at how you handle money in the spring, too.
On 13Sunrise and in her weekly blog, Cherie shared five spring cleaning tips for your finances.
Get your head out of the sand
"If you’ve been pretending that your credit card debt was going to disappear or convincing yourself that a stack of bills doesn't exist," Cherie said, "it’s time to get down to business." Establish a "fresh start" date and start tracking your progress from this new beginning.
Check your accounts
Look at everything from regular bills to retirement savings. Consider printing statements to keep in a binder. Log into websites and be sure to change and update passwords, then save those changes where you can find them. Log in to everything you can to evaluate your spending. You may even be able to consider canceling a subscription or other service during this process.
Pantry challenge
April is a good month to challenge yourself to eat at home more often. Try to eat foods that are already in your freezer and pantry. This can help limit grocery spending and impulse purchases, reduce food waste and encourage meal planning with foods you already have. This will make room for fresh ingredients if you garden or shop farmers markets that move back outdoors in May.
Summer plans
Even though we’re talking about spring, summer months are just around the corner and they bring their own set of expenses. Start planning now for graduation gifts, Mother's Day in May and Father's Day in June. Weddings will be more frequent coming out of the pandemic. You will incur higher bills for air conditioning, maybe a lawn service and vacations. Then we move right into back-to-school shopping.
Sell stuff
If you found household items you no longer use during spring cleaning, try to sell it. "Whether you plan a garage sale or use the Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, the Nextdoor App, or eBay," Cherie said those obsolete items might help fund some summer expenses. So spend some time organizing now and check out Cherie's blog for links to some garage sale tools to help find buyers for your stuff.
Watch her full 13Sunrise segment with Gina Glaros in the video player.